BR 

.^35 




LIBRARY OF CONGRESS. 

Chap. Copyright No. . 



Shelf. 







UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. 



, 



LUTHER, THE REFORMER. 



BY 
CHARLES E. HAY. D.D. 



PHILADELPHIA : 
LUTHERAN PUBLICATION SOCIETY. 



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^84 



COPYKIGHT, 1898, 
BY 

THE LUTHERAN PUBLICATION SOCIETY. 






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JUL 1 2 1898 J 



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Xutber, tbe IRetormer* 



TABLE OF CONTENTS. 



PERIOD I. 

PREPARATION FOR ACTION. 

A. D. 1483-1517. 

PAGE 

Chapter I. Boyhood 5 

11 II. Early Student Days . . 11 

' ' III. Advanced Studies 14 

" IV. Monastery Life 19 

" V. Professorship at Wittenberg 24 



PERIOD II. 

Assertion of Principles. 
A. D. 1517-1521. 

Chapter I. The Call to Action . 32 

II. The Bold Challenge 36 

III. Angry Responses . , 40 

IV. Patient Labor . . ■. 43 

V. A Browbeating Cardinal 46 

VI. Milder Measures 52 

VII. Public Debate 56 

VIII. Open Enmity .... 64 

IX. Friends New and Old 67 

X. A Tireless Pen 72 

XI. The Papal Bull . 77 

XII. The Hero at Worms 79 

(iii) 



IV 



CONTENTS. 



PERIOD III. 

Practical. Beformation. 
A. D. 1521-1546. 

PAGE 

Chapter I. The Wartburg Exile 85 

II. A Tempest Stilled . , . 90 

III. Kenewed Activity at Wittenberg .... 95 

IV. Extending Influence 99 

V. The Old Enemy 104 

VI. Faltering Allies 109 

VII. Kaging Peasants . 114 

VIII. Holy Bonds 121 

IX. Be-organization of the Church 125 

X. Political Events 131 

XI. Personal Afflictions 135 

XII. The Sacramental Controversy 137 

XIII. Luther and Zwingli 142 

XIV. The Brave Protest 146 

XV. The Marburg Colloquy 151 

XVI. Preparing to Meet the Emperor 157 

XVII. A Second Imprisonment 161 

: XVIII. The Great Confession 168 

XIX. War-clouds Stayed .172 

XX. Harmony among Brethren 176 

XXI. Parleying with the Papists 180 

XXII. Standard of Morality 186 

' XXIII. Home Life 191 

1 XXIV. Sickness and Death 196 



LUTHER, THE REFORMER. 



PERIOD I. 



PREPARATION FOR ACTION. A. D. 1483-1517. 



CHAPTER I. 



BOYHOOD. 



Even when at the summit of his renown, 
Luther never hesitated to acknowledge his hum- 
ble origin. His ancestors for several generations 
were simple peasants — not paupers, however, but 
owners of the soil whose cultivation furnished 
them a modest livelihood. His father, Hans 
Luder (Lothar: leader), engaged also in mining 
in the vicinity of his ancestral home, Mohra, on 
the border of the Thuringian forest, but soon 
after his marriage removed with his young wife, 
Margaret (Ziegler), to Eisleben, in search of 
steadier employment. Here, on Nov. 10th, 1483, 
they greeted with delight their first-born child, 
who was baptized on the same day in St. Peter's 
church, receiving the name Martin, it being the 
anniversary of that saint in the Church's calendar. 

Six months later, the family settled perma- 
nently in the town of Mansfeld, a few miles dis- 
tant, where the father was shortly afterwards en- 
abled to rent two smelting furnaces, and gradually 
improved his temporal circumstances. We find 
(5) 



him a few years later occupying a responsible po- 
sition in the village and its congregation. He was 
a sturdy son of the Church, faithful in observing 
all its appointed ordinances, but withal firm in 
maintaining his personal convictions. His wife 
was modest in demeanor, earnest in her piety and 
much given to prayer. Both were sincerely de- 
voted to the welfare of their children, although 
excessively stern in the exercise of discipline. 
They resolved to give their son the advantage of 
a liberal education, and prepare him for the prac- 
tice of law. 

Young Martin accordingly entered the village 
school at a very early age. His treatment here 
exceeded in severity that which he had received at 
home. He was beaten fifteen times in one morn- 
ing, as he himself relates, for failing to recite what 
had not been taught him. He was speaking from 
experience when he afterwards described the 
schoolmasters of that time as tyrants and execu- 
tioners, from whom nothing was learned in spite 
of stripes, trembling, terror and tears. 

It was thus in a secluded, narrow valley of the 
Harz Mountains, in the very centre of Ger- 
many, that the early years of the great Re- 
former w T ere spent. He was here in daily contact 
with nature and with the simple-minded German 
peasantry, plain in their manners, blunt in 
speech, but distinguished by native honesty and 
devoutness of spirit. He was one of them, and 
even in his maturer years always felt perfectly at 
home in his beloved Mansfeld. He is described 
by one of his most intimate associates as a 
merry, romping boy, fond of companionship. 
His natural disposition may be clearly enough in- 
ferred from the originality and vivacity of his 
mind in later years, from his keen delight in the 



BOYHOOD. 7 

works of nature, and from the unfailing humor 
which marks his utterances even amid the severest 
trials and most exhausting labors. 

The poverty of his parents and the rigor of 
the discipline to which he was subjected seriously 
affected his native buoyancy of spirit. He grew 
exceedingly timid, and his conscience became so 
sensitive that he constantly upbraided himself for 
the slightest, and often for mere imaginary 
offences. 

For the distress of mind which was thus occa- 
sioned, the religious teaching of the day afforded 
no real relief. Children were, indeed, taught the 
Lord's rrayer, the Apostles' Creed and the Ten 
Commandments. On festival days the congrega- 
tions joined in the singing of certain appropriate 
hymns, and there was some preaching in the lan- 
guage of the people. Luther always gratefully 
acknowledged the benefits which he had thus re- 
ceived. But the scriptural truth presented in 
these ways was almost lost sight of in the great 
mass of outward ceremonies and idle fancies. 

There was a growing tendency to saint-wor- 
ship, which threatened to leave no place for sim- 
ple faith in Christ as the divine Redeemer in whom 
is revealed the fulness of the Father's love and 
mercy. Greater confidence was felt in the sup- 
posed more tender love of the Virgin Mary, who 
was addressed as the u Mother of God," and im- 
plored to intercede for her petitioners with her 
Son, who was regarded as a stern judge and ruler. 
At the very time of Luther's boyhood, it became 
a popular custom, particularly among the hardy 
mountaineers of that part of German}^ to address 
prayers especially to Anna, the mother of the Vir- 
gin Mary; and the countless hosts of minor saints 
were parceled out as the patrons of particular 



8 LUTHER, THE REFORMER. 

localities, churches, persons or occupations. The 
minds of the young were filled with legends of the 
saints, some of which were really pathetic or poetic 
in character, but the great mass of which were 
mere empty, silly tales. 

There prevailed among the common people of 
that day an implicit belief in witchcraft. Evil 
spirits were supposed to be constantly active in 
inflicting injuries upon cattle, crops and human 
beings, sending sickness, storms, hail, etc. 
Luther's own mother lived in constant dread of a 
neighbor whom she accused of bewitching her 
children, making them cry themselves almost to 
death. Thus the imagination of the lad was 
stored with frightful forms, and a dark cloud of 
ever-threatening calamity overshadowed his early 
life. 

Pompous processions were used to impress the 
minds of the multitude with the majesty of the 
Church, and vast multitudes were induced to join 
in pilgrimages to supposed sacred places, bearing 
offerings for various images or relics of ancient 
saints which were said to be endowed with mirac- 
ulous healing power. 

Even when the Lord's Prayer, Creed, etc., were 
taught by the monks or priests, there was no at- 
tempt to lay stress upon the spiritual truth which 
they contain, but the whole aim was to bring the 
rising generation into absolute submission to the 
ordinances of the Church. It was particularly 
insisted, that all who desire to be saved must appear 
at least once a year before the priest, confess to 
him all their sins, receive from him absolution, or 
the assurance of pardon, and have such penances 
imposed upon them as the regulations of the 
Church might require. These penances were ex- 
ercises of various kinds, such as particular prayers 



BOYHOOD. y 

repeated a certain number of times, pilgrimages, 
fasts, etc, , and it was taught that only by a con- 
scientious fulfilment of these could the demands 
of a righteous God be satisfied and His favor en- 
joyed. Whoever failed in strictest obedience to 
these requirements would at death be cast into the 
fires of purgatory, there to remain until the meas- 
ure of his agony should sufficiently atone for his 
shortcomings. 

It was taught that a higher degree of morality 
and sanctity than possible under the ordinary 
conditions of life might be attained by the renun- 
ciation of marriage, and the surrender of all 
earthly property and personal independence. 
Some eagerly embraced the opportunity thus af- 
forded to gain repute for piety, assuming the three- 
fold vow of poverty, chastity (so-called) and 
obedience (to superiors in the Church). Others 
entered upon the monastic life to escape the nec- 
essity of earning for themselves an honest liveli- 
hood. But there were always many who sincerely 
sought, by enduring the privations and discharg- 
ing the exacting duties imposed upon them by 
this cruel system, to gain the favor of God and 
secure true peace of conscience. 

It was in a religious atmosphere thoroughly per- 
meated with these false ideas that the childhood 
of Luther was passed. His susceptible nature was 
readily moulded by them; but he could discover 
in them nowhere an answer to the deepest yearn- 
ings of his heart. The home of his youth could 
afford neither counsel nor sympathy where both 
were so sorely needed. 

To the Church and its ordinances alone could he 
look for help. His whole training had tended to 
cultivate a deep respect for its authority. There 
was, indeed, a growing tendency among the com- 



10 LUTHER, THE REFORMER. 

mon people to make merry over the inconsistent 
lives of the monks and priests, while earnest 
minds were deeply grieved by the notorious abuses 
which were tolerated, and even encouraged, by 
the Church. But in the secluded region in which 
Luther lived, these abuses had not become so 
glaring as in many places, and his parents and 
their associates at Mansfeld remained humble and 
zealous subjects of the ecclesiastical government 
under which they had always lived. Whatever 
suspicions may have been excited in their own 
minds must have been carefully concealed from 
their children, whom they sought to rear in un- 
questioning faith in that Church with which, in 
their view, was inseparably associated the wdiole 
divine plan of salvation. Yet how little encour- 
agement was to be hoped for from this quarter, 
may be inferred from what has been already said. 
Against all the sombre influences of his early 
years the strong, hopeful nature of this boy 
bravely struggled. We have no evidence that he 
became morose, or gave any hint of the inward 
struggles which he silently endured. He dutifully 
accepted the calling which his father had marked 
out for him and sought to make the best use of the 
meagre educational advantages at first afforded 
him. 



CHAPTER II. 



EARLY STUDENT DAYS. 



When fourteen years of age, Luther had ac- 
quired all the knowledge to be obtained in the 
school at Mansfeld. He was then, in 1597, sent 
to a school in Magdeburg, in high repute for its 
cultivation of the Latin language and literature, 
and for the probity of its instructors, who belonged 
to a society of pious .priests known as the "'Null 
Brethren.' 7 Of his studies here, we have no 
record. 

Suffering on one occasion from a burning fever, 
the use of water was strictly prohibited. Watch- 
ing his opportunity, he slipped down stairs and 
drank a whole pitcherful. The fever was broken 
and he quickly recovered. This is the first re- 
corded illustration of the Reformers independence 
of character, and furnishes a striking picture of 
the eagerness with which his thirsting spirit after- 
ward quaffed the living water forbidden by the 
religious doctors of the day. 

Magdeburg was a flourishing city of forty thou- 
sand inhabitants, and the young student was here 
for the first time brought into contact with the 
busy life of the commercial world. This must 
have exerted a broadening influence upon him, 
but the only incidents of the period which he has 
deemed worthy of record clearly indicate what 
was then already the bent of his mind. 

A prince of Anhalt who, having surrendered 
his patrimony, had for twenty-five years subjected 
himself to the most rigid ascetic discipline and 

(ii) 



12 LUTHER, THE REFORMER. 

was wasted to a mere skeleton, passed through the 
streets of the city bare-footed, miserably clad and 
bowed to the earth beneath a heavy burden. 
Luther was stirred to unbounded admiration, and 
severely upbraided himself for the worldliness of 
his own life. 

Somewhere, probably upon a panel in one of 
the numerous churches, he saw a painting of a 
great ship representing the Catholic Church sail- 
ing for the celestial port. On board were the Pope 
and cardinals with a goodly number of bishops. 
The crew consisted of priests and monks, and the 
Holy Ghost was the pilot. Struggling in the 
watexs were a host of poor laymen, some just sink- 
ing, and others desperately clinging to ropes 
thrown from the ship and affording the only hope 
of salvation. As he gazed in horror, his soul 
yearned to share the security of the holy men on 
board, among whom, however, not a single lay- 
man was to be seen. 

In the following year he entered an excellent 
school in Eisenach, where some relatives of his 
mother resided, with whom he was probably able 
to live more cheaply than among strangers. They 
were, however, themselves in moderate circum- 
stances, and he was compelled also to help him- 
self, which he did by singing in company with a 
circle of his school friends upon the streets of 
Eisenach and in the surrounding country, receiv- 
ing in return small contributions of money from 
benevolent burghers. Upon one occasion of this 
character, the fervor with which he sang the de- 
vout hymns selected attracted the attention of a 
refined and wealthy lady, Madam Ursula Cotta, 
who invited him to her table and persuaded him 
to make frequent visits to her home. This kind- 
ness was an incalculable blessing to the lonely 



EARLY STUDENT DAYS. 13 

boy. It soothed his spirit and at the same time 
gave him his first acquaintance with the usages of 
cultivated society. 

The institution at Eisenach was in sympathy 
with that enthusiastic revival of interest in scien- 
tific and classical studies which is known as 
Humanism. Among his teachers here were 
Pastor Wiegand, with whom he maintained 
friendly relations for many years, and John Tre- 
bonius, a poet and most faithful instructor, who 
is said to have always removed his cap when com- 
ing before his pupils, impressed with the thought 
that there might be among them some future city 
magistrate or learned doctor. During the four 
years spent at this place, his quick perception, 
vivid imagination and power of apt and pictur- 
esque expression became manifest to all. He ac- 
quired a full knowledge of Latin, writing it 
freely in both prose and verse. 



CHAPTER III. 



ADVANCED STUDIES. 



Not far from Mansfeld was the University of 
Erfurt, then one of the most illustrious of Ger- 
many. Among its prominent professors were 
Iodicus Truttvetter and Arnoldi von Usingen. 
The institution adhered to the principles of the 
later Scholasticism which accepted the tradi- 
tional dogmas of the Church and exhausted its en- 
ergies in hair-splitting and profitless discussions 
of the external forms of doctrine. Luther here 
acquired a thorough acquaintance with this sys- 
tem, which was invaluable to him in his subse- 
quent labors, and his natural powers of discern- 
ment were greatly quickened by the keen encounter 
with his academical opponents. 

But it was among the zealous advocates of the 
Humanistic studies,which were also here encour- 
aged, that Luther found his most congenial 
friends, including. Crotus Rubianus, George 
Spalatin and John Lange. He was a welcome 
comrade in the circle to which they belonged, be- 
ing regarded by them as the philosopher and 
musician of the company. 

The wide-spread interest in classical litera- 
ture and the liberal sciences which had spread 
through the more intelligent classes of all the great 
western nations opened an inviting field to the 
ambitious youth of the universities. The ancient 
mythology of Greece and Rome kindled their im- 
agination, the poets and orators of antiquity be- 
came the models of style, and the moral and relig- 
(14) 



ADVANCED STUDIES. 15 

ious principles of the ancient cultured heathen 
world were unconsciously imbibed. The movement 
thus tended to divert the minds of its adherents 
entirely away from the Christian religion. When 
the scriptural ideas of sin, atonement, fellowship 
with God, and a future life were ignored, but little 
respect could be longer entertained for the Bible. 
It was placed upon a par with the sacred books 
of other religions. God Himself and the prophets 
and saints of the Church were by many classed 
with the gods and heroes of heathen nations. The 
very foundations of morality were thus under- 
mined. The voice of conscience was smothered 
and all serious views of life banished. The pleas- 
ures of intellectual culture were extolled by some; 
social enjoyment became the sole aim of others; 
while not a few, freed from all moral and religious 
restraint, indulged in gross immorality under the 
garb of superior enlightenment. 

Yet this new godless culture found it quite pos- 
sible to thrive under the outward forms of relig- 
ious observances then prevalent in the Church. 
Its adherents formed a sort of intellectual aristoc- 
racy among the higher civil and ecclesiastical 
orders, whilst the ordinances of the Church were 
considered a valuable means of preserving good 
order among the masses, their observance by the 
enlightened classes being only for the sake of ex- 
ample. Thus there had sprung up, especially in 
Italy and notably in Rome, before the Reforma- 
tion a new heathenism under the forms of Chris- 
tian life, which in utter hypocrisy exceeded any- 
thing ever known in the heathen world, and which 
afterward boasted a foremost representative in that 
so-called Head of the Church, Pope Leo X., by 
whom Luther was condemned as a heretic. 

In Germany, however, these destructive ten- 



16 LUTHER, THE REFORMER. 

dencies had not yet been developed. The young 
Humanists and " poets" (as they styled them- 
selves) of Erfurt were moral and studious, and, 
while glorifying the ancient classical authors, 
maintained the most friendly relations with their 
scholastic professors, seeking only to give a more 
refined and poetic expression to the truths taught 
by the Church. Thus Luther felt the quickening 
impulse of the movement in its purest form. 

With characteristic ardor, the young student now 
entered upon the general philosophical course, 
which included grammar, rhetoric, logic, the 
physical sciences and moral philosophy. Among 
classical writers, he preferred Ovid, Virgil and 
Cicero. In studying these and other ancient au- 
thors, it was not his aim to imitate their elegance 
of diction, but to glean from them practical lessons 
of every-day wisdom. His own style, though 
classic in purity, was forceful rather than elegant. 
His friends regretted greatly that he did not allow 
the spirit of classical culture to more largely mod- 
ify the bluntness of his speech and the passionate 
energy of his nature. But it was just these qual- 
ities which kept him in full sympathy with the 
common people and which enabled him to deal 
such terrific blows against error and breast the 
storms which terrified his more fastidious associ- 
ates. Although the first book printed in Germany 
in Greek characters left the press of Erfurt in the 
very year of Luther' s admission to the University, 
the study of that language was pursued by very 
few at that time, and it was only in later years 
that he became proficient in it. 

In the general branches of the course his pro- 
gress was so rapid that in his third session he 
reached the first academic degree, that of Bachelor. 
This was followed, in 1503, by that of Master, 



ADVANCED STUDIES. 17 

which was equivalent to our "Doctor of Phil- 
osophy." Melanchthon testifies that his extraor- 
dinary ability won the admiration of the whole 
University. 

The culture of his talent for music furnished 
relief from severer labors. Besides the further 
training of his voice, he learned to play upon the 
lute. 

In accordance with his father's desire, he now 
determined to apply himself to the study of the 
Law, which had in Henning Goede a most dis- 
tinguished representative in the faculty at Erfurt; 
but he had scarcely entered upon the new course 
of study when he was led to a remarkable step 
which changed the entire current of his life. 

Throughout his whole career as a student, con- 
science had given him no rest. He began every 
day with private prayer and attendance upon 
early mass, it being even then a favorite maxim 
with him: "To have prayed well is to have 
studied well." Yet a fellow-student testifies that 
he often said with deep earnestness as they 
washed their hands: "The more we wash our- 
selves, the more unclean do we become." He 
one day discovered in the library of the University 
the first entire copy of the Bible which he had 
ever seen, and pored over its pages with eager de- 
light. But he still found no peace of mind. He 
thought of God only as a stern and righteous 
Judge. 

A number of incidents increased his anxiety. 
During a severe sickness he thought himself dying 
and was greatly alarmed. One Easter, as he was 
on his way to visit his parents, he accidentally 
severed an artery of his leg with his student 
sword. Lying upon his back and pressing the 
wound, he cried out in agony, "Mary, help!" 
2 



18 LUTHER, THE REFORMER. 

Soon after receiving his Master's degree, he was 
profoundly moved by the sudden death of an in- 
timate friend. Returning from a visit to Mans- 
feld, on July 2d, 1505, he was caught in a terrific 
thunder-storm, and, as a vivid flash of lightning 
darted before him, he fell to the earth and ex- 
claimed: " Help me, dear St. Anna; I will become 
a monk. ' ' Fifteen days afterward he bade fare- 
well to the world, and entered the Augustinian 
monastery of the town. 



CHAPTER IV. 



MONASTERY LIFE. 



The talented university student was cordially 
welcomed to the cloister. For the first year, as a 
" novice, " he was compelled to perform the most 
menial services, such as scrubbing the floors of 
the convent, and traversing the streets of the town 
in company with an older brother of the order 
gathering gifts of bread and cheese for the inmates 
of the monastery. The envy of his associates, or 
the supposed necessity of special stringency in his 
case to overcome the temptation to spiritual pride, 
led to the imposing of such duties upon him even 
after he had been consecrated to the priesthood. 
He performed all these tasks without murmuring, 
and was zealous in meeting all the religious re- 
quirements of his position. Seven or eight hours 
daily were set apart for the repeating of prescribed 
prayers, the Lord's Prayer and the Ave Maria be- 
ing regularly recited twenty-five times every day. 

When the year of probation was ended, the 
novice was solemnly received into the order of 
Augustinian monks, taking the vow of unquestion- 
ing obedience to Almighty God, the Virgin Mary 
and the Prior of the convent. He was now given 
a cell by himself, containing a table, a bed-stead 
and a chair. He could afterward declare: "If 
ever a monk could have entered heaven through 
monastic tortures, I should have done so, " and 
fearlessly appeal to his former associates to attest 
his scrupulous fidelity in obeying all the minutest 
rules of the order. 

(19) 



20 LUTHER, THE REFORMER. 

At least once a week, every brother was com- 
pelled to make confession privately to a desig- 
nated priest. Luther acknowledged so many trans- 
gressions to his ' ' confessor, ' ' that the well-meaning 
old man grew tired of hearing him. He was guilty 
of no gross outward sins, but accused himself of 
quickness of temper, envy, impatience, and a host 
of insignificant offenses against the rules of the con- 
vent concerning the daily exercises of worship, etc. 

It was the doctrine of the Church, that the peni- 
tent must confess all his sins, with inward peni- 
tence, or contrition. The confessor then pro- 
nounced absolution, or the pardon of sin, but at 
once also imposed as temporal penalties yet to be 
required various mortifications of the flesh, com- 
monly called penances. The imperfect perform- 
ance of these penances would incur the wrath of, 
God, and, if not leading to final perdition, would 
at least require the soul to endure unspeakable tor- 
ment in purgatorial fires. Luther accepted this 
teaching with unquestioning faith, and sought in 
the prescribed way to make sure of his acceptance 
with God. But he was too honest to believe that 
his penitence was as deep as it should be, and 
although it was taught that the absolution pro- 
nounced would atone for any imperfection in the 
contrition of the sincere penitent, yet he was de- 
prived of the comfort which he might have found 
in this assurance by the immediate imposition of 
further penances, in the fulfilment of which he 
again realized his own infirmity. In the desper- 
ate effort to find inward peace, he undertook far 
more than was required of him. He thus gained 
much repute for sanctity; but in all these efforts 
he afterwards recognized the pride of his own 
heart, which sought in this way to attain a right- 
eousness of its own and to merit the divine favor. 



MONASTERY LIFE. 21 

In May, 1507, Luther was formally inducted 
into the priesthood, when the sense of added re- 
sponsibility greatly burdened him. Who was he, 
that he should dare to approach God and present 
to Him, in the sacrifice of the mass, the body of 
His dear Son? He trembled, and almost perished 
at the thought. The accidental omission of a 
word of the prescribed formula he regarded as a 
grievous sin. He selected twenty-one out of the 
long catalogue of saints, and at each daily mass 
implored the intercession of three of these, thus 
completing the list every week. 

Meanwhile, he studied diligently the scholastic 
theology, and soon knew the works of Biel and 
D'Ailly almost by heart. He found great delight 
in the keen dialectics of Occam. He read faith- 
fully, but with some impatience, the voluminous 
works of Thomas Aquinas and Duns Scotus. But 
all these celebrated teachers of theology failed to 
bring peace to his troubled heart. They all 
taught him to rely on his own efforts to procure for 
himself the favor of God. Preaching not the love 
of God, but His majesty and absolute power, they 
led the anxious student to imagine that the tor- 
tures of mind which he had so long endured were 
indications that he was hoplessly given over to 
eternal destruction by an unchanging decree of the 
Almighty. 

His despondency was doubtless increased by the 
impaired condition of his bodily health. Long 
fasting and arduous labors, combined with an al- 
most unexampled devotion to study, reduced his 
vitality and naturally inclined him to gloomy 
forebodings. Thus many circumstances combined 
to make him for all time an example of the utter 
helplessness of the man who thinks by his own 
noblest and most self-denying efforts to secure the 
approval of a holy God. 



22 LUTHER, THE REFORMER. 

But the mercy of the Lord whom he thus 
ignorantly sought to worship was preparing de- 
liverance. While yet a novice, he was permitted 
for a season to have the use of a Bible, and, 
though he failed to grasp the central thought of 
the Gospel message, he stored up many passages 
in his faithful memory. A brother in the mon- 
astery, to whom he confided something of his 
spiritual trouble, urged him to make his own the 
declaration of the Creed, ' ' I believe in the for- 
giveness of sins," reminding him that it is not 
the sins of Peter or of Paul of which we are to 
think when making this confession, but our own, 
and insisting also that ' ' God commands us to 
hope," and that despair is therefore disobedience. 

But it was from the vicar-general of his order, 
John von Staupitz, a man of earnest practical 
piety and of sympathetic nature, that he received 
the most substantial aid. The latter, on his regular 
visits to Erfurt, encouraged the confidence of the 
young monk and became deeply interested in him. 
He advised him, instead of worrying about predes- 
tination, to view the mercy of God in the wounds 
of Christ; instead of his own scrupulous observ- 
ance of outward ceremonies, to seek that inward 
renewal of heart which is, according to the New 
Testament, the essence of conversion; and to trust, 
not in the pretentions works of his own proud self- 
righteousness, but in the grace of God as revealed 
in Christ. This was timely advice, and to his old 
age Luther acknowledged it as the chief means by 
which God led him to a knowledge of the saving 
truth. In the light of his experience we can un- 
derstand why he so frequently speaks of the value 
of wise Christian counsel in hours of spiritual 
distress and of the benefits of confession and abso- 
lution. 



MONASTERY LIFE. 23 

With a new hope stirring within him, Luther 
now turned with fresh interest to the Scriptures. 
He discovered that the scriptural word for repent- 
ance in the original Greek had no reference to 
outward observances, but could mean only a 
change of mind, or heart. Everywhere he found 
clearest revelations of the grace of God, and his 
whole conception of the plan of salvation was 
changed. Looking away from himself with a 
faith genuine yet timid, he found a measure of 
inward comfort utterly unknown before. This 
was the crisis period of his new spiritual life. 
He now advanced steadily in his perception of 
scriptural truth, although he had not the remotest 
idea of the revolutionary character of his new 
principles. 

The intellectual attainments of the Erfurt 
monk had meanwhile become widely known, and 
he was regarded as the most talented and learned 
man in the Augustinian order of Germany. His 
zeal for the proper understanding of the Scriptures 
led to the purchase of a Hebrew lexicon, then a 
great rarity, and his diligent application to the 
study of that language without an instructor or 
associate. 



CHAPTER V. 

PROFESSORSHIP AT WITTENBERG. 

At the close of the year 1508, Luther was, upon 
the recommendation of Staupitz, appointed a Pro- 
fessor in the newly-established University of 
Wittenberg. He at first taught only the so-called 
philosophical branches, which he had pursued at 
Erfurt. His preference was, however, for the- 
ology, which, as he was accustomed to say, deals 
with the kernel of truth, whereas the other 
sciences are concerned only with the shell. In 
connection with his official duties, he at once 
entered upon the course of study necessary in ' 
order to secure the academic rank required for the 
higher position. The degree of Bachelor of The- 
ology could be obtained only through three stages, 
each occupying at least six months, and each 
closing with an examination and a public discus- 
sion. These requirements were easily met, and 
the baccalaureate degree obtained within eighteen 
months. Within this period he gave theological 
instruction for three sessions at the University of 
Erfurt, when he was recalled to Wittenberg, where 
he now outranked all the other instructors in the 
faculty. 

In January, 1511, he, in company with another 
delegate, was sent to Rome upon an important 
mission connected with the government of the 
Augustinian monasteries of Germany. He re- 
joiced in this opportunity of visiting the fountain- 
head of Christian authority and life, and hoped 
for great spiritual benefit from contact with the 
(24) 



PROFESSORSHIP AT WITTENBERG. 25 

holy leaders of the Church. At the first sight of 
the capital he prostrated himself upon the ground, 
crying, " Hail, holy Rome!" The four weeks 
spent in the city were diligently utilized. He ran 
about, he afterwards tells us, like "a stupid 
saint, " from church to church, believing all the 
silly fables told him, and striving to gain the 
special blessings offered to the worshipers at each 
sacred shrine. He almost wished that his mother 
and father were dead, that he might embrace the 
opportunity to pray them out of purgatory. As 
he was reverently climbing upon his knees up the 
stair-case said to have been brought from Pilate's 
judgment-hall at Jerusalem, an exercise which ap- 
peared to him the very acme of holy service, in- 
stead of the sense of the divine favor which he 
had anticipated, he was overwhelmed with a con- 
viction of the utter inconsistency of all such works 
of supposed merit with the greit declaration of the 
Apostle: " The just shall live by faith." 

His fond belief in the sanctity of Rome was 
now rudely dispelled. He was amazed at the 
reckless luxury of the papal court, and greatly 
scandalized by the trifling way in which the priests 
conducted sacred services, even jesting as they 
celebrated the solemn mass. He discovered that 
Pope Julian was a shrewd, worldly-minded man, 
and that cardinals were guilty of gross, open im- 
morality. He heard it said upon the streets that 
"if there is a hell, Rome is built over it." His 
patriotic spirit was stirred when he heard the Ger- 
man people sneeringly spoken of as " stupid s ' for 
their simple and reverent obedience. Yet all this 
did not shake his confidence in the divine author- 
ity of the Church, but only led him to grieve over 
the unworthiness of those occupying its chief 
places of honor, and to long more earnestly for 
reform. 



26 LUTHER, THE REFORMER. 

Returning to Wittenberg, he was appointed 
Sub-prior of the monastery at that place, and on 
October 18th and 19th, 1512, was solemnly in- 
vested with the title, Doctor of Theology. He 
accepted this very unwillingly, but, as it involved 
both the authority and a solemn oath to defend 
the truth of the Gospel, it afterward gave him 
great confidence when compelled to maintain his 
convictions against the traditional teachings of the 
Church. 

In the theological lectures which he now be- 
gan to deliver, an entirely new method was intro- 
duced. The exposition of the Scriptures had been 
previously committed to instructors of lower rank, 
whilst the doctors of divinity were expected to 
base their instructions upon the developed system 
of the great scholastic authorities. Luther, on the 
contrary, confined his lectures to the Scriptures 
themselves, and aimed especially to present in the 
clearest possible form the great saving truths of 
revelation. In the very first course of instruction, 
full notes of which have happily been preserved 
to us, he declares the Word of God to be for the 
seeker after truth what pasture is to the ox, its 
nest to the bird, or a stream to the fish. 

He chose for his first course of lectures as 
" Doctor of the Sacred Scriptures," in 1513 and 
1514, the Psalms, being attracted by their devo- 
tional spirit. He had a special edition of the 
Psalter printed for the use of his students, in which 
large spaces were left between the lines and upon 
the margin. A copy of this edition is still pre- 
served in the library at Wolfenbiittel, the pages of 
which are crowded with comments in the hand- 
writing of the Reformer, evidently forming the 
basis for the fuller expositions given to his classes. 
The comments do not manifest that anxiety to 



PROFESSORSHIP AT WITTENBERG. 27 

discover the original meaning of the text which 
afterwards characterized Luther's expository writ- 
ings, but they display the deepest sympathy with 
the inward struggles of the sacred writers and a 
constant effort to detect, wherever possible, proph- 
ecies and types of that Saviour in whose fellowship 
his own soul had now found rest. 

In 1515, he began to lecture upon the Epistle to 
the Romans, having found the key to a proper 
understanding of this profound theological treatise 
in the 17th verse of the first chapter. He had for- 
merly conceived of the righteousness of God as a 
revelation only of stern, uncompromising justice. 
He now, in the light of Paul's argument, beheld 
in it the righteousness imputed to every one who 
believes in Christ, as the sure pledge of his accept- 
ance as a child of God. 

In 1516, he undertook an exposition of the 
Epistle to the Galatians, developing especially 
the scriptural discrimination between the Law and 
the Gospel — between the bondage of the letter and 
the freedom of the spirit. As the original epistle 
swept away the pretensions of the Pharisees of old, 
so Luther's strong presentation of its principles 
now placed in clear light the perversions of the 
entire papal system of human ordinances, and 
taught men to render even to the divine law not a 
servile, but a willing and loving obedience. 

These three early commentaries all discuss the 
great question which in practical importance 
overshadows all others: How shall man become 
righteous before God and inherit eternal life ? They 
clearly state the scriptural doctrine of justification 
by faith. They teach that Christian character de- 
pends, not upon outward works of self-mortifica- 
tion, but upon the state of the heart; that sins 
are forgiven freely by the grace of God; and that 



28 LUTHER, THE REFORMER. 

the faith which accepts pardon as a free gift be- 
comes an active promoter of all good works, just 
as a good tree will produce good fruit. 

From the celebrated teachers of theology of the 
Middle Ages, who had blindly adopted the ideas 
and method of the ancient heathen philosopher, 
Aristotle, and who failed, in consequence, to un- 
derstand the nature of sin and the real purpose of 
the Gospel, Luther turned to Augustine, whose 
name was still honored, but whose works had 
fallen into neglect. He was delighted to find in 
this great teacher a clear confession of the depth 
of human depravity and helplessness, and a mag- 
nifying of the free mercy of God. But even 
Augustine had not so fully grasped as did Luther 
the apostolic conception of faith alone as the 
means of appropriating the freely- offered grace. 

But the mind and heart of the great Reformer 
were subjected also to a powerful influence from 
another quarter. During the thirteenth and four- 
teenth centuries there had arisen in Germany a 
number of men of deep contemplative piety, 
known as the German Mystics. They sought to 
attain fellowship with God by renunciation of the 
world and of their own desires. They too often 
carried out this idea to great extremes, endeavor- 
ing to lose all sense of existence in a dreamy re- 
verie, to dissolve away " into nothingness." 
Already in the cloister Luther had felt the im- 
pulse of this system from his study of the works of 
Gerson (f A. D. 1429) ? and from his intercourse 
with Staupitz. The sermons of one of the noblest 
of its representatives, John Tauler (f A. D. 
1361), now fell into his hands and he read it with 
avidity. In strong contrast with the cold formulas 
of the scholastics and the empty external works of 
the papal system, the deep religious spirit of these 



PROFESSORSHIP AT WITTENBERG. 29 

men enchanted him. He was so much pleased 
with a little anonymous tract in which their views 
were advocated that he himself, in 1516, published 
a portion of it, and, two years later, the entire 
work, under the title of " German Theology." 
Whilst he avoided the empty philosophical con- 
clusions in which the system of the Mystics finally 
evaporated, his sympathetic study of its better 
literature was of great benefit in adding depth and 
fervor to his piety. Its influence may be traced 
in all his future writings in his profound yearning 
for fellowship with God and in the recognition of 
self-will as the very essence of sin. He rose above 
it, however, when he taught that God is love, and 
that we are not only to prostrate ourselves before 
Him, but to allow Him to lift us up and inspire 
us with a new and joyous life. Whilst the piety 
of the Mystics led them to withdraw from the 
world, that of Luther sent him forth to valiant 
service in the cause of truth. 

With his learned labors was combined a glowing 
zeal in the practical application of the Gospel to 
the common people. At Erfurt, he had preached 
in the dining hall of the convent; during his first 
years at Wittenberg,in a little building of logs and 
clay, and afterwards in the University Church. It 
was his custom at times to preach every day for a 
week or more, sometimes delivering two daily ser- 
mons in addition to his regular lectures at the 
University. His sermons were plain and prac- 
tical, addressed not to the learned professors in the 
front pews, but to the peasants and servants who 
occupied the humbler seats. He spoke with great 
fervor and with convincing power. 

In a series of discourses upon the Ten Com- 
mandments and the Lord's Prayer, concluded in 
the early part of A. D. 1517, the sins of every- 



30 LUTHER, THE REFORMER. 

day life were vividly portrayed, with the manifest 
purpose of awakening in the hearers a deep sense 
of personal sinfulness with distrust in any possible 
effort of their own, and then leading them to the 
exercise of simple, joyous faith in Christ. The 
glaring abuses of the prevalent saint- worship and 
the much-lauded pilgrimages are freely denounced, 
and the sanctity of the ordinary daily life of the 
humble believer is exalted in contrast with the 
supposed superior holiness of the monastic and 
clerical orders. Thus, long before Luther dreamed 
that he should be called to occupy a position of 
world-wide influence as a reformer, he was known 
in the community in which he lived as a man 
utterly fearless in his denunciation of popular 
errors. In this, many brave men had, indeed, 
preceded him, but he differed from them all in his 
fervent presentation of direct, personal faith in 
an atoning and triumphant Saviour as the all- 
sufficient basis of a genuine religious life. 

The regular monastic duties were still faithfully 
discharged, although he no longer sought thus to 
merit the favor of God. He was in 1515 elected 
District Vicar for Thuringia and Misnia (Meis- 
sen), having eleven Augustinian monasteries un- 
der his care. He displayed a deep personal inter- 
est in the spiritual welfare of the inmates of these 
institutions, as well as practical wisdom in gov- 
ernment and discipline. 

He was still a faithful subject of the Roman 
Catholic Church, bowing before her authority and 
acknowledging the validity of all her ordinances. 
He wore his monk's cowl, and urged his associ- 
ates and subordinates as strongly as ever to faith- 
ful obedience. He still thought it proper to 
implore the saints to intercede for men with God, 
and he himself in his sermons openly invoked 



PROFESSORSHIP AT WITTENBERG. 31 

the aid of the Virgin Mary. Huss and the Bo- 
hemian Brethren, who had renounced the papal 
authority, he regarded as " wretched heretics." 
If he inveighed against the corruptions of the 
monks and clergy, and warned against the preach- 
ing of idle legends instead of the simple truth of 
the Gospel, he thought himself in this fully sus- 
tained by the better sentiment of the Church at 
large. If he quoted Augustine against Aquinas 
and Scotus, he did not imagine that he was 
thereby assailing the accepted dogmas of the 
Church, or questioning its authority. 

But the Reformation was now essentially 
completed in the soul of Luther. He had for 
years been leading a life of joyous faith in Christ. 
He had found himself in full spiritual accord 
with Paul and David. With unwearying delight 
he had been unfolding to all about him the con- 
solations of the glorious Gospel. Within the still 
narrow circle of his influence, the truth had been 
gladly welcomed by many. The time had come 
when, in the providence of God, the light thus en- 
kindled was to break through the heavy shrouds 
of mediaeval darkness and shine forth to the ends 
of the earth. 



PERIOD IL 



ASSERTION OF PRINCIPLES. A. D. 1517-1521. 



CHAPTER I. 



THE CALL TO ACTION. 



It was the public Sale of Indulgences, or cer- 
tificates of pardon for sin, by official representa- 
tives of the Pope, that summoned the studious 
professor and earnest pastor to the field of contro- 
versy. That an abuse so flagrant should find 
intelligent defenders even in that age, or that op- 
position to it should lead to a transformation of the 
whole civil and religious aspect of the modern 
world, seems almost incredible. Yet it was just 
here that the battle for Gospel liberty was joined. 
The shameless abuse of the traditional indulgences 
led to an examination of the theory upon which 
they were based, and this involved a direct scru- 
tiny and rejection of the claims upon which rested 
the whole system of mediaeval theology, and the 
entire fabric of the papal authority. 

The accepted theology of the clay taught that 
repentance is a sacrament, or churchly ordi- 
nance, consisting of three parts: contrition of heart, 
confession by the lips (to a priest), and satisfac- 
tion by works. Upon the first part but little stress 
was commonly laid. It was understood to be 
merely a dread of punishment, and if sufficiently 
deep to lead to confession, the officiating priest 
(32) 



THE CALL TO ACTION. 33 

was authorized to pronounce absolution, by which 
act, it was taught, any deficiency in the sincerity 
or depth of the contrition was fully supplied, and 
the professed penitent positively released from the 
penalty of eternal death. In place of the latter, 
however, were now appointed various temporal 
penalties, such as fastings, prescribed religious 
exercises, the giving of alms, etc. The meeting 
of these demands constituted the third necessary 
part of repentance. If the works of satisfaction 
thus required be not fully rendered in the present 
life, the neglect must be atoned for by an indefinite 
period of suffering in the fires of purgatory. 

There w r as thus, after all, upon this theory, no 
such thing as the free and full forgiveness of sin 
by the grace of Gocl. The confessing penitent 
was, indeed, declared free from the penalty of 
eternal death; but for every slightest defect in the 
atoning work still required of him he must face 
the prospect of purgatorial fires. Unless his obedi- 
ence was perfect, he was therefore still, and must be 
for an indefinite period after death, a subject of 
punishment, enduring the wrath of Gocl. As the 
penalties imposed by the Church grew heavier, the 
years of prospective purgatorial pains grew longer. 
Since the obedience of the masses to the mandates 
of the Church depended largely upon their desire 
to avoid the aggravation of the agonies of purga- 
tory, it was but natural that zealous partisans of 
the hierarchy should paint those agonies in the 
deepest hues, until they became, to the imagina- 
tion of the common people, practically equivalent 
to the unending pains of hell. 

But the Pope, it was further taught, might re- 
mit ecclesiastical penalties in view of distinguished 
service rendered to the Church, or generous gifts 
to her coffers. The merits of Christ and the good 
3 



34 LUTHER, THE REFORMER. 

works of those eminent saints who had done more 
than w T as required of them were supposed to con- 
stitute a sacred " treasure of the Church," 
which the Pope was authorized to apply in making 
up deficiencies in the holiness or obedience of 
others. He might even thus lighten or altogether 
remove the penalties yet resting upon souls already 
in purgatory, in view of the devotion or gifts of 
their surviving relatives. 

Gradually, this theory of papal pardon, or in- 
dulgence, was modified in two important particu- 
lars. It was made applicable, not only to the 
imperfect observance of churchly penalties, but to 
transgressions of the divine law as well. Thus 
contrition, or sorrow for sin, became a secondary 
matter, and repentance a mere outward ceremony 
— a penance rendered by the sinner himself, and 
even this avoidable upon the payment of money 
for the benefit of the Church. 

Thus, hundreds of thousands of indulgences, as- 
suring the full pardon of all sins, were granted 
to those who participated in the Crusades. At a 
later day, they were freely bestowed in return for 
generous contributions of funds to aid in war 
against the Turks. The guardians of sacred 
shrines and of the reputed relics of the saints in 
various places were authorized to dispense to all 
visitors there making confession on certain days, 
or to deceased friends of the latter, indulgences 
covering varying terms of years in purgatory. 

Pope Leo was at this time zealously prosecuting 
the erection of St. Peter's Cathedral, at Rome, 
and graciously offered to all who should pay to his 
accredited agents appropriate sums of money cer- 
tificates entitling them to claim at the hands of 
any priest (penitence being prudently mentioned 
in the papers, but as prudently overlooked in the 



THE CALL TO ACTION. 35 

preaching of the auctioneering agents) absolution 
for all their sins and participation in all the bless- 
ings of salvation. Prince Albert, Archbishop of 
Mayenee, had undertaken for one-half the pro- 
ceeds (this private bargain being unsuspected by 
Luther) the distribution of these indulgences 
through a large part of Germany, and had engaged 
a bold and unscrupulous priest, John Tetzel, to 
urge the people to avail themselves of the oppor- 
tunity thus offered. The latter, prosecuting his 
work with fiery zeal, reached Jiiterbog, a few miles 
from Wittenberg, in the fall of the year 1517, and 
was there literally selling " grace for cash." He 
wrought especially upon the tender regard of his 
hearers for their deceased friends, crying: "The 
moment the groschen rings in the chest, the soul 
flies out of purgatory." 

Members of Luther's parish purchased these 
papers, and then, boldly confessing sins which 
they had no idea of forsaking, demanded absolu- 
tion at his hands. Horrified at the impiety, he 
utterly refused to absolve them and earnestly 
admonished them to repentance. This they 
promptly reported to Tetzel, who declaimed fiercely 
against the presumptuous monk daring thus to 
treat with contempt the printed mandate of the 
Pope. But the monk maintained his ground, and 
from the pulpit denounced the shameless traffic. 
He thus discharged his duty as a pastor; but he 
felt a larger responsibility resting upon him as a 
Doctor of Theology, sworn to proclaim and to de- 
fend the Gospel before all the world. 



CHAPTER II. 



THE BOLD CHALLENGE. 



The most prominent building in Wittenberg 
was the Castle Church. Originally established 
as a depository for a " sacred thorn," said to have 
been taken from the crown pressed upon the Sav- 
* iour's brow, it had for more than one hundred and 
fifty years been a centre of superstitious devotion, 
when, in the closing decade of the fifteenth century, 
the Elector Frederick the Wise greatly enlarged it 
and at enormous expense gathered within its walls 
relics from all parts of the world to the number of 
more than five thousand, including a piece of the 
burning bush seen by Moses, part of the fiery fur- 
nace of Nebuchadnezzar, arms and fingers of the 
babes of Bethlehem slaughtered by Herod, hair of 
the Virgin Mary, fragments of the Saviour's swad- 
dling clothes, his beard, the purple robe, toes and 
hair of various saints, etc. Whoever worshiped 
reverently in this sacred edifice on the days imme- 
diately preceding or following the festival of All 
Saints, was entitled to papal indulgence extending 
in some cases for one hundred years. This church 
stood in close relation with the University, the 
public exercises of the latter being held within its 
walls, and academic announcements being upon 
the great festival days posted upon its doors. 

Here was now the opportunity for the brave 
young Doctor. Appointed to preach in this 
church on the 31st of October, 1517, the afternoon 
preceding All Saints' day, he discourses fervently 
upon true inward repentance as distinguished 
(36) 



THE BOLD CHALLENGE. 37 

from outward forms of penance, and fearlessly con- 
demns the traffic in indulgences, although well 
knowing that he is thereby robbing the treasured 
relics of the place of all their value and exposing 
to ridicule the folly of his patron, the Elector. 

Some time before entering the church he had 
quietly performed the act which is now universally 
recognized as the actual starting-point of the 
Reformation. Stepping up to the great door, he 
nailed upon it a proclamation inviting all persons 
interested to participate in person or by writing in 
a public discussion of the " Virtue of Indulg- 
ences." As a basis for the disputation, he pre- 
sented Nine ty-five T heses, or brief proposi- 
tions, bearing upon the subject. He did not him- 
self realize that the principles which he announced 
must eventually abolish the practice altogether 
and undermine the whole system of church organ- 
ization by which they were supported. It was 
not his calling to forecast the results of his con- 
duct, but simply to be faithful to the light which 
he had and to his position as a teacher and de- 
fender of scriptural truth. 

The Theses are moderate and respectful in 
tone. The autho r freely grants th e right of the 
Pope to issueTnd ulgenees, and denounces only the 
flagrant abuse of them. Upon some points he is 
not clear in his own mind, and hence states them 
in interrogative form, hoping by thorough discus- 
sion to arrive at right conclusions. Starting with 
the Saviour's call to repentance, he maintains that 
the latter is to be an experience continuing all 
through life — an inward sorrow for sin, manifesting 
itself outwardly in the overcoming of the sinful 
impulses of the flesh; that the indulgences issued 
by the Pope have nothing to do with this, but can 
remit only the outward penalties imposed by the 



38 LUTHER, THE REFORMER. 

Church; that they cannot in any way affect the 
souls of the departed; that every true Christian 
enjoys the pardon of all his sins without any in- 
dulgence from the Pope; that it is far better to ex- 
pend one's money in works of Christian love than 
to squander it in the purchase of indulgences; that 
the true u treasure of the Church " is not any ex- 
tra merits of the saints, but is the Gospel; that, if 
the Pope can release so many souls from purga- 
tory for money, pure Christian love should impel 
him to set them all free; and that it is not by 
seeking to avoid suffering and trial, but by bearing 
them with patience, that w T e can hope to enter 
heaven at last. 

The reception accorded the Theses far ex- 
ceeded the expectations of their author. Within 
two weeks they had been scattered throughout 
all Germany and in an incredibly short time had 
penetrated to the most distant portions of the 
Church. 

The friends of the brave monk were thoroughly 
frightened, and thought he had gone too far. Said 
the jurist, Jerome Scheurf : " What do you expect 
to accomplish? The authorities of the Church 
will not endure such boldness. " The prior and 
sub-prior of his cloister begged him to desist and 
not thus bring disgrace upon their entire order. 
The theologian, Albert Krantz, upon hearing the 
Theses read, exclaimed : i l Thou speakest the 
truth, good brother, but thou wilt accomplish 
nought by it. Go to thy cell, and cry: ' God have 
mercy upon me.' " On the other hand, no one 
ventured to accept the challenge to a public dis- 
putation at Wittenberg. The Theses, with their 
author, stood for a time alone before the world. 
Nothing terrified, although sincerely regretting the 
wide and, as he thought, premature, publicity 



THE BOLD CHALLENGE. 39 

given to the matter, Luther at once issued a Dis- 
course upon Indulgences and Grace, embodying the 
same ideas, and set himself to the preparation of 
a careful elucidation and defence of the positions 
which he had taken. 



CHAPTER III. 



ANGRY RESPONSES. 



Although the partisans of the Pope at first re- 
garded the Theses with blank amazement, and 
sought to discredit them as the idle vaporings of a 
contentious monk, it soon became evident that 
more serious attention must be given to them. 

Tetzel, after seeking to add dignity to his posi- 
tion and authority to his utterances by securing 
from the University at Frankfort the degrees of 
Licentiate and Doctor of Theology, issued two 
series of counter-theses in which he boldly de- 
clared that the repentance spoken of by Christ was 
by Him meant to include confession to the priest^ 
and the observance of all the penances imposed by 
the Church, and that the Pope is infallible in his 
utterances and supreme in his power. Three hun- 
dred Dominician friars, assembled at Frankfort, 
espoused the cause of Tetzel; but the Wittenberg 
students, seizing the entire stock of his theses 
brought to that place, burned them in the public 
square. i r i % ^ 

Early in January, 1|18, there was issued from 
Rome an official document far more formidable in 
character. Its author was Sylvester Prierias, 
Master of the Sacred Palace, to whom had been 
given a censorship over all publications upon the 
territory of the Romish Church. It advocated the 
most extreme views concerning the subjection of 
the Church to the Papacy and the absolute neces- 
sity of priestly ordinances to salvation, whilst de- 
nouncing Luther as a leper and a vicious dog. It 
(40) 



ANGRY RESPONSES. 41 

scornfully declared that if the Pope had only given 
this monk a fat bishopric and allowed him to sell 
indulgences, he would now be a most subservient 
vassal of the papal throne. When tempted to 
criticise severely the harsh language sometimes 
employed by Luther in controversy, it will be well 
for us to remember that it was the papal party 
whose official representatives first descended to per- 
sonalities and the hurling of opprobrious names. 

The Pope himself, in the following month, 
instructed the Vicar-General of the Augustinian 
Order to take prompt measures for the suppression 
of the contumacious monk of Wittenberg. This 
was not known by Luther, however, until some 
months afterward. 

Perhaps the most unexpected attack was that of 
John Eck, a distinguished theologian of Ingol- 
staclt, with whom Luther had a pleasant acquaint- 
ance, and for whose attainments he entertained 
sincere reject. This supposed friend prepared in 
March, lil8, under the title, Obelisci (from the 
custom of marking condemned passages in books 
with the obelisk, f), a criticism of the Theses, 
denouncing them as full of the poison of Bohemian 
heresy, regardless of the restraints of Christian 
love, and destructive of all churchly order. 

During the following July, Tetzel, emboldened 
by the contemptuous silence with which his former 
assault had been received, returned to the charge, 
decrying Luther as an arch-heretic, ignorant of 
the Scriptures and of the writings of the Church 
Fathers. Hoogstraten, meanwhile, who had al- 
ready gained repute as a persecutor of the renowned 
Hebrew scholar, Reuchlin, called upon the Pope 
to institute a bloody inquisition, and cleanse the 
Church from the new leaven of heresy. 

To all these rude attacks Luther made reply, 



42 LUTHER, THE REFORMER. 

adapting his tone, in each ease, to the temper and 
capacity of his opponent. Tetzel and Hoogstraten 
received very summary treatment. Against Eck 
he published a formal, scholarly treatise entitled 
Asterisci (the marginal asterisk, *, indicating ap- 
proval), whilst in response to the official assault 
of Prierias, he dashed off within two days a 
lengthy and indignant rejoinder, fortifying his 
positions by abundant quotations from the Scrip- 
tures and from the acknowledged authorities of 
the Church. 



CHAPTER IV. 



PATIENT LABOR. 



The months which followed the publication of 
the Theses were for Luther months of unremit- 
ting toil. To the duties of his position in the 
University and the labor devolving upon him as 
pastor was now added the grave responsibility of 
leadership in the movement for reform which 
centred in him as its intrepid leader. He had not 
dreamed of being brought into such prominence, 
but he was not the man to shrink from any path 
of duty opening plainly before him. His greatest 
concern now was to discover the exact truth upon 
all the points in controversy, and. to this end, he 
applied himself with all the ardor of his nature to 
the work of investigation. 

As the Theses had not been designed as a final 
statement upon the subjects discussed, he began 
at once the preparation of an extensive exposition 
of them, emphasizing what was fundamental, and 
candidly confessing his uncertainty upon some 
less essential points. He regarded this work as 
most important, and it was not until the follow- 
ing spring that it was completed and given to the 
press under the title, " Elucidations of the Theses 
concerning the Virtue of Indulgences." On May 
22d, he sent a partial copy to his superior, the 
Archbishop of Brandenburg, and on the 30th of 
the same month addressed another copy to the 
Pope, to whom the entire work was dedicated. 
In an accompanying letter, he submits his case 
with the most earnest protestations of his loyalty 
(43) 



44 LUTHER, THE REFORMER. 

to the Church and his willingness to receive cor- 
rection, or even condemnation, at the hands of the 
Pope. He expresses, however, unshaken confi- 
dence in his cause, and anticipates a favorable 
judgment when his principles shall have received 
candid examination. 

A discourse upon " repentance, " published 
in February or March, afforded him opportunity to 
present in a positive form his favorite doctrine of 
the supreme importance of faith, which the special 
purpose of the Theses had not enabled him there 
to discuss at large. He here clearly shows that 
without faith neither contrition nor confession nor 
any sacramental act can have saving efficacy. 

A very suggestive and comforting exposition of 
the noth Psalm appeared within the same 
period. 

With great simplicity and fervor he continued 
to unfold the central truths of the Gospel in his 
frequent sermons and in his academical lectures. 
His wide repute for scholarship and the courageous 
act which had so suddenly made him famous at- 
tracted students to Wittenberg in constantly in- 
creasing numbers, and these nearly all became 
earnest advocates of his evangelical views. When 
anxious friends suggested that his course must 
ultimately bring upon him public condemnation, 
he replied: "I neither began for the sake of glory 
or shame, nor will I desist for either." 

A pleasing variation of the routine of his official 
duties occurred in April and May, when he was 
summoned to a convention of the Augustinian 
Order at Heidelberg. Reminded that his enemies 
might embrace the opportunity to inflict personal 
violence upon him, he declared: " The more they 
rage, the more ay ill I press forward." Ten days 
were required for the journey, which was made 



PATIENT LABOR. 45 

mostly on foot. During the visit he was treated 
with much kindness by his brethren, but no refer- 
ence was directly made to the great controversy 
with which his name had become so closely con- 
nected. When the business of the convention 
was completed, he was invited, according to the 
custom of the day, to conduct a disputation, the 
serious work of his calling thus following him 
upon what by less devoted men might have been 
regarded as a well-earned vacation. He prepared, 
accordingly, a series of theses upon the futility 
of the works of the law and the true doctrine of 
the cross. The theologians of Heidelberg com- 
bated his views with great acuteness, yet in a 
friendly spirit; but the result was seen in the 
conversion of a number of young theologians pres- 
ent to the views of Luther, some of whom after- 
wards became very prominent in promoting the 
Reformation. After an absence of about five 
weeks, he returned, greatly refreshed in body and 
mind, and applied himself with renewed vigor to 
his studies. 

Meanwhile, neither attacks from without nor 
his absorbing interest in his own department 
could make him forgetful of the general welfare 
of the institution in which he labored. With a 
broad comprehension of the requirements of the 
age, he earnestly advocated progressive measures 
in the scientific and philological departments of 
the University, fully convinced that the most lib- 
eral education could but promote the interests of 
true religion. 



CHAPTER V. 

A BROWBEATING CARDINAL. 

Meanwhile, in Rome, formal proceedings 

were instituted against Luther for heresy. On 
August 11th, he received an official citation to ap- 
pear in the holy city within sixty days and make 
answer to the charges against him before a special 
commission, consisting of the Papal Auditor and 
the Master of the Sacred Palace, the above-men- 
tioned Prierias. As the former of these was merely 
a fiscal officer, with no aptitude nor experience in 
matters of doctrine, it was evident that the decis- 
ion of the case must rest with Prierias, who had 
already ki such a public and offensive way pro- 
nounced judgment against the accused. 

Luther, always ready to submit his principles 
to the calm judgment of friend or foe, was yet un- 
willing to make himself the victim of a mock-trial 
at the hand of his sworn enemy, and hence very 
promptly resolved that he would not obey the 
summons. He requested that a trial be granted 
him upon German soil and before unprejudiced 
judges, and sought the good offices of his sovereign, 
the Elector Frederick, in securing this reasonable 
concession. The latter was providentially just at 
this time in position to wield a peculiarly powerful 
influence upon both the civil and the ecclesiastical 
authorities. There was even then assembed at 
Augsburg an Imperial Diet, to which Pope Leo 
was appealing for funds to carry on a prolonged 
war with the Turks, and from which the Emperor' 
Maximilian was endeavoring to secure the election 
(46) 



A BROWBEATING CARDINAL. 47 

of his grandson, Charles of Spain, as his own suc- 
cessor. Both had, therefore, every reason to con- 
ciliate the Elector Frederick, of Saxony, who was 
the acknowledged chief of the electoral princes and 
was himself mentioned as a probable candidate 
for the coveted imperial throne. 

Thus the scheme to entrap Luther at Rome 
failed, and it was agreed that he should be tried at 
Augsburg, by the papal representative then present 
at the Diet, Cardinal Cajetan. This official was 
a man of recognized ability, the acknowledged 
leader of the Thomist party among the scholastic 
theologians of the day. For his high office Luther 
entertained sincere respect, and it was with no 
little trepidation that the latter now for the first 
time prepared to appear in person before a direct 
representative of the Pope, whom he still regarded 
as the rightful head of the Church. 

Disregarding the warnings of suspicious friends, 
he set out on foot, and on October 7th arrived at 
Augsburg weary and sick. He at once notified 
the Cardinal of his presence by a messenger, refus- 
ing however to appear in person until furnished 
with the imperial safe-conduct to which he was 
entitled. The Emperor being absent from the city 
upon a hunt, four clays elapsed before the irritated 
and impatient Cardinal could secure the oppor- 
tunity of dealing with the troublesome monk. 

In the meantime, a trusted friend of his, Urban 
of Serralonga, called repeatedly upon Luther 
and endeavored to induce him to take a less serious 
view of the situation. The whole matter could be 
settled, he declared, by one little word of six let- 
ters, ' ' revoco " (I recant). When Luther pleaded 
for the common people, who were being so shame- 
fully deluded, the trifling ecclesiastic laughingly 
maintained that it is allowable to deceive the 



48 LUTHER, THE REFORMER. 

people, if by that means money can be made to 
flow into the coffers of the Church. Finally, he 
reminded Luther that he could not expect the 
Elector to go to war for his defence, and taunt- 
ingly inquired where he would find a refuge when 
the strong arm of the Empire should be invoked 
against him. To this Luther calmly replied: 
" Under the open sky." 

At length, on October 12th, the accused and his 
judge stood face to face. Luther, wearing a robe 
which he had borrowed for the occasion, prostrated 
himself before the great spiritual prince and ex- 
pressed his readiness to make any concessions 
which his conscience should allow. The Cardinal 
addressed him patronizingly as his " dear son," 
and proposed to help him out of all his trouble if 
he would simply retract his errors and promise to 
refrain from all conduct tending to create dissatis- 
faction in the Church. In response to Luther's 
demand for a specification of his supposed errors, 
the Cardinal limited his charges to two points: — 
Luther, he said, had denied that the merits of 
Christ constitute a treasure from which the Church 
may draw in the dispensing of indulgences, and 
had maintained that the sacraments cannot benefit 
unless there be faith-in the recipient. He declared 
that he would not condescend to engage in any ar- 
gument upon these points, but demanded simply 
the distinct revocation of the heretical utterances. 
A conference of three days' duration proving utterly 
fruitless, the enraged Cardinal bade Luther depart 
from his presence and never return unless to recant. 

A little reflection, however, convinced the 
haughty prelate that he had been too hasty. It 
was the desire of his master, the Pope, that Luther 
should in some way be brought to silence; and 
Cajetan had made not the slightest progress in that 



A BROWBEATING CARDINAL. 49 

direction. He sent, therefore, upon the same day 
for two of Luther's most trusted friends, Staupitz, 
the Vicar-General of Luther's order, and Link, 
the Prior of the Augustinian convent at Nurem- 
berg, both of whom were with Luther at the Car- 
melite monastery of the city. As they responded 
promptly to his summons, he assured them of his 
kindly feelings toward Luther and his own desire 
for peace, and urged them to exert their influence 
to conciliate the fiery monk, whose i l deep eyes 
and wonderful speculations" he was unwilling 
again to encounter. They reported accordingly at 
the convent, and Luther, always easily moved by 
kindness, addressed a courteous letter to the Car- 
dinal, apologizing for any lack of propriety in his 
speech or demeanor, re-affirming his willingness 
to recall anything which he had said if convinced 
of his error, and agreeing to remain silent upon 
the question of indulgences provided his adver- 
saries would do likewise. 

On October 18th, he notified the Cardinal that 
he could not remain much longer in Augsburg, 
and, his letters receiving no attention, he two days 
later left the city quietly by night,— not, however, 
before he had prepared a formal appeal from the 
Pope illy-informed to the Pope better-in- 
formed sending one copy by a trusty friend to 
Caietan and posting one for the information of the 
public upon the wall of the cathedral. Upon his 
journey homeward, he received a copy of the in- 
structions which the Pope had given to Cajetan, 
bearing date of August 25th, authorizing him to 
arrest Luther and clothing him with full power to 
excommunicate any and all adherents of the lat- 
ter at his discretion, and to place under the ban 
any prince, city or university that should afford a 
refuge to the condemned monk. 
4 



50 LUTHER, THE REFORMER. 

The effect of the transactions at Augsburg upon 
Luther was to greatly diminish his respect for the 
papal authority and to encourage him in boldly 
proclaiming the principles which he had there so 
successfully maintained. If Prierias and Cajetan 
were able to present no stronger arguments against 
him, what could he have to fear from other adver- 
saries? 

On Aug. 25th, the Cardinal addressed a letter 
to the Elector Frederick, warning him against 
affording shelter to the incorrigible monk, urging 
his immediate surrender to the Romish authori- 
ties, or, at least, his banishment from the electoral 
dominions. The faithful Frederick, perplexed as 
to his duty but sincerely attached to his fearless 
subject, sent the letter to Luther, allowing him to 
reply for himself, and three weeks later dictated a 
dignified and non-committal reply to the Cardinal 
in his own name. 

After publishing a full account of the occur- 
rences at Augsburg, Luther now, utterly distrust- 
ing the Pope, and beginning even to suspect that 
the latter was the Antichrist spoken of in Revela- 
tions, made a formal appeal, in his own behalf 
and in that of the large number of his countrymen 
who shared his views, to a General Council of the 
Church to be held in some secure and accessible 
locality. 

Whilst at Augsburg, Staupitz, as Vicar General 
of the Augustinians, had absolved him from his 
vow of obedience to that order, that, in the 
event of his excommunication, the standing of the 
order in Germany might not be compromised, and 
that he might not feel bound by his solemn oath 
to submit to the discipline thus administered. 

Luther now seriously meditated a departure 
from Wittenberg in order that the Elector and 



A BROWBEATING CARDINAL. 51 

the University might not be compelled to share the 
odium which he had brought upon himself. It 
was, however, decided that he should remain, at 
least until the edict of excommunication should be 
actually issued. He accordingly bade a condi- 
tional farewell to his congregation and, ready for 
flight at any moment, quietly applied himself to 
his ordinary duties, his soul u filled with joy and 
peace," the sure reward of conscious rectitude. 



CHAPTER VI. 



MILDER MEASURES. 



Anxious to arrest the progress of the new doc- 
trines, yet fearing to deal harshly with Luther, the 
Pope now entered upon a campaign of conciliation. 

On Nov. 9th he issued a proclamation (pub- 
lished in Germany Dec. 13th), couched in general 
terms, and maintaining, against the errors of cer- 
tain monks and preachers, that the divine penal- 
ties for sins may be remitted by indulgences, and 
that the " treasure of the Church, 77 consisting of 
the merits of Christ and of the saints, is available 
for this purpose. He thus arrayed the Church 
more distinctly than before in support of these 
doctrines, but avoided all direct mention of the 
name T>f Luther. 

The efforts of Cajetan having failed, a new en- 
voy was despatched from Rome in the person of 
the Pope's chamberlain, Karl von Miltitz. He, 
bejhg a Saxon nobleman and familiar with the 
temper of the German people, was well suited for 
the task assigned him. He bore with him letters 
from the Pope, addressed to the Elector Frederick, 
the magistrates of Wittenberg, and many others, 
in which Luther was denounced as a u son of 
Satan," and " son of perdition," and the recipi- 
ents were adjured to render all possible assistance 
to Miltitz in proceeding against him. As the 
Elector Frederick was regarded as the chief pro- 
tector of the heretic, a special effort was made to 
ensure his good-will by the presentation to him of 
the Golden Rose, an emblem bestowed annually 
(52) 



MILDER MEASURES. 53 

by the Pope upon some prince as a mark of special 
favor. 

Miltitz, upon his arrival, first of all sought a 
conference with Cajetan. As he traveled 
through Germany he discovered to his dismay 
that fully one-half the populace seemed to be 
upon the side of Luther, and saw in this an addi- 
tional reason for the greatest caution. He sum- 
moned Tetzel before him and severely repri- 
manded him for his appropriation of money 
received from the sale of indulgences, and for his 
immoral life. The latter retired in disgrace to the 
Dominican monastery at Leipzig, where he died 
a few months afterward. If the papal authorities 
imagined that their heartless abandonment of the 
poor monk when he could no longer serve their 
purposes would appease Luther, they were greatly 
mistaken. He was stirred with indignation and 
pity, and addressed a cordial letter of sympathy 
to Tetzel. 

It was not until the opening week of the year 
1519 that Miltitz and Luther met by appoint- 
ment at Altenberg. The bearing of the envoy was 
extremely courteous. He implored Luther with 
tears to assist in checking the rising tide of dis- 
content, and at the conclusion of the interview 
dismissed him with a kiss. He agreed to use all 
his influence at Rome to secure for Luther a hear- 
ing before a German bishop, who should after an 
impartial hearing decide which, if any, of the 
utterances of the latter were really in conflict with 
the teachings of the Church. Pending the pro- 
posed arbitration, Luther agreed to refrain from 
further attacks, provided his opponents should also 
remain silent. He promised to write an apolo- 
getic letter to the Pope, and to publish an 
appeal to the common people exhorting them to 



54 LUTHER, THE REFORMER. 

remain faithful to the Roman Catholic Church. 
In the latter, written soon afterward, Luther 
acknowledges the authority of the Pope as sub- 
ordinate only to that of Christ himself, encour- 
ages the common people to seek the intercession 
of the saints for themselves and the souls in 
purgatory, and urges them to leave the settlement 
of the disturbing questions of the day to the theo- 
logians, and to interpret his own writings, not as 
hostile to the Church, but as designed to promote 
her welfare. 

By mutual consent the Archbishop of Treves 
was selected as a suitable person to conduct the 
proposed investigation, and during the weeks fol- 
lowing Miltitz earnestly but fruitlessly sought to 
perfect the necessary arrangements. Luther, 
while assenting, took but little interest in the 
matter, as the result would at best be no more 
than the specification of distinct charges against 
him, the final decision being still left to his 
enemies at Rome. The Pope, on March 29th, be- 
fore receiving Luther's letter, which was written 
on the 3d of that month, addressed to him a 
friendly communication, expressing himself as 
highly gratified that his ' l beloved son ' ? has made 
such large concessions and is now willing to re- 
tract his errors, assuring him of full pardon for 
the violence he had displayed under the provoca- 
tion of Tetzel's imprudent utterances, and then in 
a tone of condescending kindness repeating the 
demand for his appearance at Rome for the 
purpose of renouncing his errors in the presence 
of the- supreme Pontiff. This letter, although 
never delivered to Luther, furnishes the clearest 
evidence that the project of Miltitz for a hearing 
upon German soil met with no favor at Rome, and 
that the seemingly friendly approaches were but 



MILDER MEASURES. 55 

an attempt to secure by flattery what could not 
be gained by violence. 

Luther had so regarded the whole movement 
from the beginning, declaring to his friends that 
the tears of Miltitz were crocodile-tears and his 
kiss a Judas-kiss. Yet he met courtesy with 
courtesy, and made all concessions possible in the 
interest of peace, still however employing his time 
in further preparation for the conflict which he 
now saw to be inevitable. 



CHAPTER VIL 



PUBLIC DEBATE. 



Scarcely had the interview with Miltitz been 
concluded, when Luther heard anew the blast of 
war in another quarter. Carlstadt, his associate 
at Wittenberg, had for some time been conducting 
a pamphlet controversy with John Eck, of Ingol- 
stadt, and arrangements had now been made for 
the holding of a joint debate upon the points at 
issue. The time and place had not yet been 
agreed upon, but the energetic champion of 
Roman orthodoxy had already issued a series of 
twelve theses (afterwards increased to thirteen), 
which were very evidently aimed, not at Carl- 
stadt, but at Luther. A copy was sent by Eck to 
Luther with an invitation to be present at the dis- 
cussion. As the latter well knew that Carlstadt 
was a man of more zeal than learning and by no 
means a match for Eck in debate, and as the as- 
sault was chiefly designed to bring his own teach- 
ing into disrepute, he, feeling no longer bound by 
his conditional pledge of silence, resolved not only 
to be present, but to claim the privilege of taking 
an active part in the discussion. Many diffi- 
culties were thrown in his way, but his indomit- 
able persistence overcame them all. 

It w r as finally agreed that the disputation 
should be held at Leipzig, beginning June 27th. 
This city, conveniently located and famed for its 
University, was in itself a suitable place for such 
a tournament; but the sentiment of the students 
and burghers was strongly with the dominant 
(56) 



PUBLIC DEBATE. 57 

party, not only on the score of doctrine, but be- 
cause of the jealousy with which the new Uni- 
versity at Wittenberg was regarded. 

The last of the theses proposed by Eck contro- 
verted a position which only Luther had dared to 
assume,, and from which even Carlstadt shrank 
back in dread, namely, that the supreme power 
wielded by the Pope did not rest upon divine 
right, but was the result of a purely human 
arrangement. The introduction of this subject 
into the controversy, intended by Eck to form the 
climax of the debate and to concentrate upon his 
opponent the whole power of the Papacy, whose 
very foundations were thus assailed, compelled 
Luther to make a thorough investigation of the 
origin of the papal power. He read over the 
whole series of the "decretals" issued by the 
popes, and on March 13th, only ten days after his 
submissive letter to Leo, amazed at the violence 
done to the Scriptures by these supposed infallible 
utterances, he wrote to a friend that he was un- 
able t© decide whether the Pope is Antichrist him- 
self or only his apostle. He w T as at first tempted 
to withhold the discoveries thus made for effective 
use in the approaching debate, but, his desire for 
the dissemination of the truth overcoming his 
prudence, he published in advance a series of 
arguments against the accepted teaching upon this 
point, and presented his own broad conception 
of the Church, as embracing all true believers, 
and as dependent for its existence and authority 
upon no form of outward organization whatsoever. 

This was by far the most radical position 
which he had yet assumed, and for the time be- 
ing it absorbed all the interest of the opposing 
parties. The final decision upon all points of 
doctrine had been hitherto supposed to lie with 



58 LUTHER, THE REFORMER. 

the visible head of the Church, sitting as the 
Vicar of Christ in the chair of St. Peter at Rome. 
If, now, it could be shown that the claims of the 
Pope were without the sanction of the Scripture, 
or even of history, the wa}^ would appear to be 
open for the unsettling of confidence in the 
Church itself, and men would ask by what 
authority, then, truth could ever be established. 
It was but gradually that Luther himself aban- 
doned the idea of finding somewhere an external 
tribunal for the final determination of vital ques- 
tions of doctrine. Finding the Popes so sadly un- 
reliable, he yet cherished the idea that a general 
council representing the whole Church, although 
not in itself infallible, would always be preserved 
from error in doctrine, and hence the confidence 
with which he had himself appealed to such 
a tribunal. 

The coming disputation was looked forward 
to by both parties with the keenest interest. *It 
was to be a great occasion for Leipzig. Eck was 
on hand several days in advance. Carlstadt 
entered, with Luther and Melanchthon, on June 
24th, accompanied by two hundred Wittenberg 
students armed with swords and halberds. From 
every direction came professors and students, 
monks and tradesmen. A number of the followers 
of Huss, from Bohemia, eager to see and hear the 
brave man who seemed to them about to assume 
the work of their slain leader, ventured to press in 
with the great throng. A large hall in the palace 
had been gorgeously decorated by order of Duke 
George, who himself watched the proceedings with 
deep solicitude. 

Luther and his friends desired that the entire 
discussion be taken down by competent notaries, 
in order that there might be no misunderstanding 



PUBLIC DEBATE. 59 

or misrepresentations. To this Eck objected, but 
he was finally overruled. He was more successful 
in the demand, in which he was supported by 
Duke George, that the whole proceedings be 
afterward submitted to some prominent uni- 
versity, whose theologians should decide which 
party was victorious. Luther, on the contrary, 
desired to submit the case to the judgment of the 
Church at large. It will be observed that he was 
thus far in advance of his age in his confident 
appeal to enlightened public opinion. 

The proceedings began on the appointed day 
with an opening address in the hall of the Uni- 
versity, a solemn mass in St. Thomas' church, and 
a grand procession of citizens, students and 
strangers, with flaring banners and blare of 
trumpets, to the scene of conflict. 

Four days were consumed by Eck and Carl- 
stadt in a fruitless discussion of the relations be- 
tween the divine sovereignty and the free will of 
man, in which the superior adroitness and 
scholastic erudition of the former gave him a great 
advantage. But little interest was manifested by 
the spectators until July 4th, when the real 
champion of the new doctrines stood face to face 
with his now exultant antagonist. 

A graphic portraiture of the two men from the 
pen of an eye-witness, Moseilanus. has fortunately 
been preserved. Luther is described as of 
moderate stature, his body worn by care and 
study. Yet he is apparently in the strength of 
early manhood. His voice is clear and penetrat- 
ing. He has a well-stored and ready memory, 
and is fluent in speech but needlessly caustic at 
times. In social intercourse he is affable, viva- 
cious and witty. He appeared during the contro- 
versy always at his ease, and his countenance, 



60 LUTHER, THE REFORMER. 

even under the fiercest attacks of his assailant, 
was composed and cheerful. He commonly held 
a bunch of flowers in his hand, with whose fra- 
grance he frequently regaled himself, to the appar- 
ent discomfiture of his enemies. 

Eck, on the contrary, was of powerful physique, 
with a full, deep voice. The features of his coun- 
tenance suggested the meat-shop rather than the 
theologian's chair. His memory was remarkable, 
but he was neither quick in apprehension nor 
clear in judgment. He would heap quotation 
upon quotation from the Church Fathers and 
scholastic teachers, without regard to order or 
relevancy to the matter in hand, his apparent 
object being to astound the hearer with an empty 
show of learning. When hard pressed, he did 
not hesitate to shift his ground and claim the 
position of his assailant as his own. To an ad- 
mirer of the Ingolstadt champion, on the con- 
trary, he appears as a veritable Hector, bold as a 
lion, guarding the citadel of the Church's faith, 
his quiver full of thunderbolts for the extermina- 
tion of the Wittenbergers. 

For four days the discussion between Eck and 
Luther was confined to the crucial question of the 
divine right of the papal supremacy. Eck 
claimed that the divine ideal of government had 
always been a monarchy — that heaven itself is a 
monarchy, and that Christ can have established 
His kingdom on earth in no other form. Luther 
easily met this argument by pointing out that the 
Church is indeed a monarchy, but that Christ 
Himself is its only Head, and that otherwise the 
Church would be a headless body whenever a pope 
dies. The opposing interpretations of the pas- 
sage in Matthew concerning the rock upon which 
Christ declared that. He would build His Church 



PUBLIC DEBATE. 61 

were supported upon both sides by abundant 
quotations from the great teachers of the Church. 
In maintaining that the supremacy of the Pope 
was a modern idea. Luther quoted from the Greek 
Fathers and from Cyprian. Augustine, the Council 
of Xice. etc. : but when Eck cited St. Bernard, for 
whom Luther was known to have a special regard, 
the latter, undismayed, appealed from Bernard, 
and all human authorities, to the Scriptures 
Upon a reference by Luther to the independent 
position of the Eastern Church, Eck passionately 
declared that all the Greeks who refused allegiance 
to Rome were heretics, a view which Luther pro- 
nounced utterly shameful. 

The critical point of the discussion was reached 
when Eck declared that among the doctrines of 
Huss, condemned as heretical by the Council of 
Constance, were those now being maintained by 
Luther. This was a masterly stroke of dialectic 
policy. The condemnation of Huss met with the 
approval of the great mass of the German people, 
and his Bohemian followers were regarded with 
the greatest abhorrence as schismatics and heretics, 
a prejudice which Luther himself still largely 
shared. Yet the facts of the case were as stated 
by Eck. TThat should Luther do ? Plight bravely 
does he meet the issue, declaring that among 
the propositions of Huss condemned at Constance 
were some that were thoroughly Christian and 
evangelical, particularly those concerning the 
nature of the Church and the primacy. Eagerly 
does his adversary seize upon this bold assertion 
as indicating contempt for the solemn declaration 
of a great Council. Unwilling to appear in this 
light, and strongly bound by his own life-long 
reverence for the decisions of such a general repre- 
sentative body of the Church, Luther tried in 



62 LUTHER, THE REFORMER. 

every possible way to defend the Council from the 
charge of error, but finally referred this phase of 
the question back to Eck, stoutly maintaining 
that, at all events, these propositions of Huss and 
his own were true and confirmed by the highest 
of all authorities, the Sacred Scriptures. 

The discussion of other doctrines which fol- 
lowed constantly drifted back to this absorbing 
question of the final source of authority in the 
Church. In refusing to recognize the Second 
Book of Maccabees, Luther found himself again in 
open conflict with the Church, and upon the ques- 
tion of purgatory he was compelled to face the 
clear declaration of another Council, that of Flor- 
ence, held in 1438. In both cases, he calmly 
maintained his ground. 

On July 14th, Luther yielded his place to Carl- 
stadt, whose privilege it was to have the final word 
upon the side of the Reformers, and after a day 
or two the disputation was brought to a hurried 
close. Luther returned to his work. Eck re- 
mained for nine days in Leipzig as the honored 
guest of the city, everywhere greeted as victor and 
loaded with honors. The Universities of Paris 
and Erfurt, to which the reports of the trans- 
actions were referred, refused, upon various 
grounds, to render any decision. 

The great conflict from which so much had been 
expected appeared to have been fruitless. Me- 
lanchthon, Mosellanus and others greatly depre- 
cated the unseemly strife as not calculated to 
promote the interests of true piety. Much good 
was however accomplished by the great interest 
awakened in many earnest minds. 

But important results were at once manifest in 
the influence of the discussion upon the two chief 
champions. Eck followed up his supposed 



PUBLIC DEBATE. 63 

triumph with relentless energy. He attempted 
by flattery of Carlstadt to win him from the sup- 
port of Luther. He wrote to the Elector Fred- 
erick, expressing regret that he had been com- 
pelled to administer such a crushing defeat to a 
member of the latter' s university, and admonish- 
ing him to burn all the books of the reckless pro- 
fessor upon one heap. To Rome he sent a full 
report of his great achievement, and urged the 
Pope to proceed vigorously in the prosecution of 
the heretic. In short, we must from this time 
onward regard Eck as Luther's most bitter 
enemy, 

Luther declared to his friends that he had never 
been so shamefully treated as at Leipzig. He 
had learned to regard Eck with contempt for his 
vanity and duplicity. He was disgusted with the 
general course of the Disputation, declaring that 
it had a bad beginning and a worse ending. With 
only one feature of it was he satisfied, namely, the 
comparatively full discussion of the grounds of 
the papal authority. By this he had been driven 
to the clearest conviction that even the general 
councils were unreliable and to take his stand 
simply upon the unassailable testimony of the 
Divine Word itself. This conviction in the mind 
of Luther gave a new direction to his energies 
and exerted an incalculable influence upon the 
course of events. It was the great achievement of 
the Leipzig Disputation. 



CHAPTER VIII. 



OPEN ENMITY. 



The encounter at Leipzig served to fix the 
gaze of multitudes anew upon Luther. It 
proved that he could not only assail the great 
errors of the da} T in written propositions, but that 
he could hold his own in free discussion with the 
foremost debater in Germany. The very topic 
which Eck had so shrew T dly introduced in order 
to entrap his antagonist, i. e., the supremacy of 
the Pope, proved most fruitful in leading the Re- 
former to an advanced position of hostility against 
the fundamental principle of the Romish hierarchy. 
The battle evidently was not yet closed, but the 
pale Wittenberg professor now stood forth to the 
view of the world as a warrior fully armed and 
eager for the fray. 

During the three years which followed, he was 
never without an assailant, and the heaping of 
maledictions upon his name was considered the 
surest way to ecclesiastical preferment. 

In April, 1518, a large convention of Fran- 
ciscan Monks, held at Juterbog, drew up formal 
charges against him to be laid before the Bishop 
of Brandenburg, accusing him, in coarse terms, of 
heresy upon eight articles of the Catholic faith. 
Luther rebuked their presumption and threatened 
to expose their ignorance if the offence were re- 
peated, but not until Eck had rushed to their de- 
fence did he deign to make a formal reply to the 
slanderous attack. 

Jerome Emser, a friend of Eck, who had been 

(64) 



OPEN ENMITY. 65 

present at the Leipzig Disputation, published 
what purported to be a friendly defence of Luther 
against the suspicions of sympathy with the Bohe- 
mians awakened by his championship of certain 
propositions of John Huss. It was really a 
treacherous attempt to bring upon Luther all the 
odium attaching to the very name of the Bohe- 
mians in the minds of the common people. The 
coat-of-arms of Emser, an ibex, was printed upon 
the title page. The malice and hypocrisy of the 
publication aroused in Luther the intensest indig- 
nation, and he replied with fierce denunciation in 
a tract entitled, To Emser, the Goat, proposing to 
hunt down this impertinent beast. Emser re- 
plied with coarse slander, calling Luther a dog, 
and Eck soon came to his assistance with caustic 
comments upon Luther's ridiculous chase, declar- 
ing that the latter, with only a few ignorant lay- 
men in his following, was attempting to over- 
whelm the whole body of the intelligent clergy. 
Eck then set out in person for Rome, there, as 
Luther said, to stir up the abyss of the lower 
world against him. 

Within a very short period nearly all the uni- 
versities of Germany and France became in- 
terested in the questions at issue. Realizing only 
too well the occasion for protest against the abuses 
of the day, yet wedded to the traditional doctrines 
and dependent largely upon the favor of the Rom- 
ish Church, they commonly avoided definite offi- 
cial utterances. In August and September, 1519, 
however, the universities at Cologne and Louvain 
formally condemned Luther's works, and de- 
manded that their author be forced to a public re- 
cantation. Their action was at once approved by 
Hadrian, of Tortosa, the chief official of the 
Church in Spain. Luther did not receive a copy 
5 



66 

of the document until the following March, when 
he replied briefly and scornfully. 

Duke George, of Saxony, who before the 
Leipzig Disputation had been disposed to give the 
new doctrines at least a fair hearing, became soon 
afterward a determined opponent, and in Decem- 
ber, 1519, wrote to the Elector urging him to take 
prompt measures to free himself from the re- 
proach of cherishing heresy in his domains. 

In January, 1520, the Bishop of Misnia is- 
sued a decree condemning Luther's demand for a 
restoration of the cup to the laity in the celebra- 
tion of the Lord's Supper. This was of special 
significance as being the first official utterance of 
a German bishop against Luther. He replied 
vigorously, refusing to acknowledge the document 
as genuine, attributing it to some subordinate offi- 
cial of the episcopal residence at Stolpe, and as 
such condemning it. 

Meanwhile a defence of ' ' the apostolic chair ' ' 
appeared in Leipzig, written by a Franciscan 
monk, Augustine of Alveld. It was weak in 
argument, and as it was written in Latin, which 
only the educated could understand, Luther did 
not regard it as worthy of notice until it appeared 
in a German translation, when he prepared, as an 
antidote, a tract for the common people setting 
forth the nature of the Church as the invisible as- 
sembly of true believers, all of whom are, by virtue 
of their Christian calling, priests before God. 

Luther's appeal from the Pope and his repre- 
sentatives to a general council brought out a fresh 
attack from his old enemy at Rome, Prierias, in 
which the latter reiterated his extravagant views of 
the supreme power of the Pope. Luther scornfully 
republished the entire document, with a few run- 
ning comments, allowing the ridiculous claims of 
the fanatical papist to furnish their own refutation. 



CHAPTER IX. 



FRIENDS, NEW AND OLD. 



Very peculiar indeed were the personal relations 
of Frederick the Wise, the Elector of Saxony, 
with his irrepressible subject. Once had he heard 
the latter preach. He read his writings with deep 
interest, accepted the fundamental articles of his 
teaching, communicated with him frequently 
through intermediaries, sent him presents, re- 
quested favors of him, protected him, — and yet 
never met him personally. The foremost of the 
princes of Germany, ruling over a people bound 
in thraldom to the existing Church, providentially 
placed in a position to command the greatest con- 
sideration for his wishes at the hand of both Pope 
and Emperor, he could serve Luther and the 
cause of evangelical liberty best by refraining from 
public demonstrations of sympathy, and simply 
demanding an open hearing and fair treatment for 
the reputed heretic. Luther appreciated the 
measure of favor thus granted him and asked no 
more. He trusted the honest heart of his sover- 
eign, but never depended upon him for actual 
protection against his enemies. In the hour of 
greatest peril, he regarded himself rather as the 
protector of his prince. 

A few weeks before the Leipzig Disputation, the 
University of Wittenberg had welcomed as pro- 
fessor of ancient languages, etc. , a young man of 
remarkable attainments in scholarship, Philip 
Melanchthon. He was the direct counterpart of 
Luther in physical and mental endowments, but 
(67) 



68 

of an equally earnest and truth-loving temper. 
Each at once recognized in the other the qualities 
needed to supplement his own deficiencies, and a 
beautiful friendship was formed w r hich endured 
through life. The advantage to Luther of having 
constantly at his right hand this quiet and pains- 
taking student, versed in the current languages of 
the day and in the ancient tongues of Scripture, the 
master of a clear and flowing style in composition, 
sincerely devoted to the defence of the same prin- 
ciples, cannot be overestimated. His Loci Com- 
munes, forming the first systematic presentation of 
the doctrines held by the Reformers, was pro- 
nounced by Luther an "inspired" book. In 
September, 1519, he took a position in advance 
of Luther himself in boldly declaring that the 
Romish doctrine of Transubstantiation (or the 
actual transformation of the elements in the 
Lord's Supper into the body and blood of Christ) 
was entirely without scriptural warrant. From 
this time forward Melanchthon clung to Luther, 
rendering substantial and timely aid in many a 
conflict. 

The bold spirit of the Reformer, seconded by 
the amazing talent of his youthful co-laborer, en- 
listed the hearty sympathy of the Humanists, 
and words of encouragement flowed in upon him 
from distant regions. Wittenberg was recognized 
as a centre of learning as well as of piety, and it 
was of immense importance that the "Preceptor 
of Germany" should be seen not only in hearty 
accord with its chief religious teacher, but humbly 
following him as a planet follows the sun. 
Luther rejoiced in all this sympathy, but never 
for a moment accommodated his own earnest 
practical spirit to the trifling and worldly temper 
which marked the leaders of the Humanistic 



FRIENDS, NEW AND OLD. 69 

movement. Unless inspired with something of 
his religious fervor, they could not walk very far 
in his company. With him, learning must be 
the handmaid of religion. 

The large demand for the writings of Luther, 
both in their original form and in translations, in 
France, England and Spain, attested the rapid in- 
crease in the number of his adherents among 
the intelligent class of the Christian world, and 
the enthusiasm of the throngs of students at his 
own University filled him with the brightest hopes 
for the regeneration of his beloved Fatherland. 

The true character of John Huss, who had been 
burned as a heretic in 1415, now becoming known 
to Luther through the study of his works and in- 
tercourse with prominent men among his followers, 
he acknowledged that he had himself long been 
teaching the doctrines of Huss without knowing 
it. He, in consequence, entered into the friend- 
liest relations with the Christians of Bohemia, 
who welcomed him as the successor of their 
lamented leader. 

As the rage of his enemies increased, Luther 
was much concerned lest his course should prove 
injurious to the interests of his kind patron, the 
Elector Frederick, and he frequently thought of 
withdrawing from Wittenberg on that account. 
Yet he felt that he had been divinely called to the 
work in which he was engaged, and dare not sur- 
render it without the clearest indications of the 
will of God. He knew that he would be cordially 
received in Bohemia, and would there be in com- 
parative safety, but his influence in Germany 
would be forfeited were he to accept hospitality in 
that quarter. Just at this juncture, two fearless 
young German nobles came to his aid, Ulrich von 
Hutten and Francis von Sickingen. Hutten 



70 LUTHER, THE REFORMER. 

had in his youth been placed in a cloister, but 
effected his escape from the tyranny of the monks. 
He visited Rome upon several occasions and was 
familiar with the corruption which there prevailed. 
Being present at the Diet of Augsburg in 1518, 
and hearing Cajetan's contemptuous reference to 
the stupid Germans, he resolved to cast aside all 
considerations of prudence and devote himself en- 
tirely to the work of arousing the German Nobil- 
ity to an uncompromising resistance of the proud 
Italians. In 1517 he had published a treatise 
of Laurentius Valla, exposing the utterly fraudu- 
lent character of the reputed " Donation of Con- 
stantine," by which that emperor was said to 
have conveyed the imperial control of the western 
portion of his domains, or the ' c Roman Empire 
of the German Nation," to the Pope, and which 
was relied upon as the basis of the papal authority 
in Germany. Luther was amazed beyond meas- 
ure to discover from this document that the 
haughty power which had for centuries been op- 
pressing his countrymen was founded upon a 
forgery, and he set himself at once to the task of 
utterly demolishing the entire structure of the 
Papacy which had been erected upon this sandy 
foundation. Hutton, upon his part, assured 
Luther that he would stand by him at all hazards. 
He was unfortunately not himself in position to 
be of much practical service, but he had a power- 
ful ally in his friend Sickingen. The latter was a 
knight of abundant means, a courageous warrior, 
the possessor of several strong fortresses, and a 
zealous champion of the political rights of the 
German States. His attention having been called 
to Luther's perilous situation, he in January, 
1520, cordially invited the latter to accept his 
hospitality and protection. The opening of this 



FRIENDS, NEW AND OLD. 71 

unexpected place of refuge appeared to Luther 
providential, and greatly encouraged him. He 
was thus enabled to continue his bold assaults 
upon the papal iniquities, prepared at any mo- 
ment to retire from Wittenberg and still prosecute 
his work upon German soil, sustained by the very 
foremost of his country's brave defenders. 



CHAPTER X. 



A TIRELESS PEN. 



After the Leipzig Disputation, Luther, now 
thoroughly aroused, and irritated by the false 
reports circulated in regard to the course of the 
debate, determined to carry his cause before a 
wider tribunal. He therefore set about the pre- 
paration of a series of Elucidations (resolutiones) 
of the theses which he had maintained, discussing 
at the same time one or two important doctrines 
not then touched upon, i. e., justification by 
faith and the impurity of all human efforts. He 
now in the strongest terms affirmed that the Holy 
Scriptures constitute the only infallible authority 
in matters of faith. 

In the spring of 1519 appeared his Comment- 
ary upon Galatians, as the outgrowth of his 
academic lectures. Entering fully into the spirit 
of the apostle, he declared that this was his own 
epistle — that he was wedded to it. It seemed to 
him to have been written expressly for the pur- 
pose of combating the very errors then prevalent 
in the Church. With glowing earnestness, he 
applied its doctrine of free grace, and traced the 
fundamental distinction between the demands of 
the Law and the life-giving message of the Gospel. 

About the same time, he began the publication 
of a running commentary (modestly entitled, 
" Labors") upon the Psalms, seeking thus to 
deepen the spirit of true devotion and thankful- 
ness among those who had been delivered from 
the bondage of idle ceremonies. 
(72) 



A TIRELESS PEN. 73 

In September, receiving word of the serious 
illness of the Elector, he prepared, as a message 
of comfort which might prove timely for his 
honored friend and be helpful to others in similar 
distress, one of the most strikingly original of his 
compositions. As the superstitious populace were 
accustomed to call upon fourteen special saints in 
time of trouble, he designates his tract Tessara- 
dekas (The Fourteen), and depicts the comforts 
of the Gospel in view of the evils that threaten 
man from seven directions, i. e., from within, 
before, behind, beneath, to right, to left and 
above, and then displays the manifold blessings 
that reach us from the same directions, last and 
chief among which is Christ Himself. 

In May, 1520, appeared an exhaustive disser- 
tation upon " Good Works," which vividly por- 
trayed the necessity of faith as the basis of all 
Christian activity, and as the never-failing motive 
for the cheerful fulfilment of every duty devolving 
upon the child of God. It was a complete vindi- 
cation of the Evangelical doctrines against the 
charge of encouraging the neglect of moral obliga- 
tions. Yet how different these works of faith 
from the slavish exercises by which multitudes 
were vainly seeking to merit the favor of God! 

But the course of events was rapidly bearing 
the Reformer on to bolder utterances. Within 
the closing months of the year 1520, he gave to 
the press the three documents which are by com- 
mon consent acknowledged as his greatest reform- 
atory publications. These are entirely distinct in 
character, full of life and energy, and together 
cover the whole field of needed reformation — in 
secular affairs, in the administration of the ordi- 
nances of the Church, and in the conception of 
the individual Christian life. 



74 LUTHER, THE REFORMER. 

The first of these was the Address to the 
Nobility of the German Nation. Many circum- 
stances had combined to stir the national feeling 
in Germany. The political complications result- 
ing from the constant interference of Roman 
legates, their demand for money to carry on the 
supposed threatening war with the Turks, the 
ecclesiastical taxes exacted upon all manner of 
pretexts — were boldly denounced by many of the 
most influential knights of the realm. Luther 
now, impelled by a deeper motive to resist in 
every way the sacrilegious pretensions of the 
papacy, gave free scope to his patriotic instincts. 
He calls upon all the Nobles of the land, including 
the Emperor himself, to recognize the sacredness 
of their high offices, and boldly espouse the cause 
of the people against their foreign oppressors. He 
notes " three walls" of defence with which the 
papists had fortified their modern Jericho: first, 
the claim of secular supremacy; secondly, the sole 
right of the Pope to interpret the Scriptures; 
thirdly, the assertion that only the Pope can call 
a general council of the Church. He himself 
demolishes these walls with a few stirring blasts 
upon the trumpet of the divine Word, and then 
urges the Nobility to assert their God-given rights, 
summon a general council, and address themselves 
in earnest to the work of reformation. He then 
presents a catalogue of crying political and social 
abuses of the day, denouncing them in the scath- 
ing language of intensest passion. The effect was 
indescribable. The Address was at once the sub- 
ject of discussion in every hamlet. Multitudes who 
cared but little for the religious questions of the 
day rallied around the standard of Luther, hailing 
him as the coming deliverer of their fatherland. 

But Luther was already occupied in another 



A TIRELESS PEN. 75 

direction. It was the Church, after all, that lav 
nearest to his heart, and he utters a bitter lamenta- 
tion over the Babylonian Captivity which has 
robbed even her sacred ordinances of their power 
to bless the humble followers of Christ. He 
bewails a three-fold bondage in which the Holy 
Supper is held: first, the withholding of one- 
half of the sacrament — the cup — from the laity; 
secondly, the absurd doctrine of transubstantia- 
tion; thirdly, the impious transformation of the 
simple feast of love into the sacrifice of the mass. 
The discussion here leads him to assail the very 
foundations of the Roman Catholic system. Hav- 
ing heard that he is to be very shortly summoned 
to recant, under penalty of excommunication, he 
mockingly offers this fresh assault as the beginning 
of his recantation. 

Amid the storm of invective which now poured 
upon him, and the new perils to which he was ex- 
posed by the publication of the bull of excommu- 
nication, Luther was unruffled in his joyous con- 
fidence in God. Having smitten the enemy, he 
now turns to the more congenial task of depicting 
the blessedness of the true believer. His Lib- 
erty of a Christian Man, appearing in Novem- 
ber, is a profound portraiture of the higher spir- 
itual life which lifts above the cares of earth and 
releases from slavish fear of the Law. It thus 
met directly the deepest religious longings of the 
age. The author forwarded a copy to the Pope, 
accompanying it with a letter expressing personal 
regard for the character of Leo. 

A large number of tracts upon practical 
themes were given to the press during the years 
now under consideration, discussing in vigorous 
German the defective and oppressive marriage 
laws, usury, private confession, preparation for 



76 LUTHER, THE REFORMER. 

death, the proper use of the sacraments, etc. A 
suggestion from the Elector led to the preparation 
of a series of popular discourses upon the peri- 
copes, or appointed scriptural readings for each 
Sunday in the year, in which his fervent devo- 
tional spirit found scope for exercise and which 
attained a wide circulation. 



CHAPTER XL 



THE PAPAL BULL. 



Almost eleven years had elapsed after the Leip- 
zig Disputation when, on June 15th, 1520, the 
long threatened Bull of Excommunication was 
issued at Rome. As its preparation had been en- 
trusted to Luther's bitterest enemies, including 
the relentless Eck, it lacked nothing in severity of 
tone. Starting with an impious appeal to the 
offended majesty of the Lord, it invokes His aid 
and that of Peter, Paul and all the saints against 
the wild beast that has been devastating the vine- 
yard. It brands forty-one of his Theses as i k heret- 
ical, false or offensive," condemns them all, and 
orders that all his books be burned wherever 
found. Sixty days were allowed to him and his 
adherents for recantation, under penalty of final 
excommunication. All faithful subjects of the 
Church, secular and ecclesiastical, are summoned 
to use their utmost efforts to place the person of 
the stubborn heretic in the power of the Pope. 

To Eck was assigned the task of promulgating 
the fateful document in Germany; but the zealous 
efforts of the willing emissary served but to reveal 
the amazing revulsion of feeling which had 
already been effected among the once submissive 
Germans. Many, enlightened by the writings of 
Luther himself, utterly denied the authority of 
the Pope in the premises. German patriots were 
rilled with fiery indignation at this attempt to 
condemn a fellow-countryman without a hearing, 
The extravagant language of the document and 

(77) 



1J 



/3 LUTHER, THE EEFORMER. 

the employment of a personal enemy in its promul- 
gation gave excuse for questioning its genuineness 
The people scornfully called it "Eck's Bull, 
Luther, in a stirring tract, summoned the Emperor 
and princes to resent the impertinent presumption 
of this "Bull of Antichrist." On Nov. 17th, he 
drew up, and immediately published in Latin and 
German, a renewal of his appeal to a general 
council, denouncing the Pope as an unjust judge, 
a heretic, an anti-Christian opponent of the Holy 
Scriptures, and a despiser of the true Church. 

It was not until September that the publica- 
tion of the Bull in Germany was actually begun, 
encountering then almost universal opposition. 
The papal legate, Aleander, secured authority from 
the Emperor for the burning of the books of Luther 
in the Netherlands. Luther responded by pub- 
licly casting to the flames the bull, and with it 
the entire body of the papal laws, amidst the 
wild jubilation of the students of the University. 

The battle was now joined in earnest. 
Luther was, indeed, surrounded by friends. His 
own prince, the Elector Frederick, though care- 
fully avoiding any public endorsement of his 
teaching, could be relied upon to demand at least 
the ordinary forms of justice in the treatment of 
his loyal subject; but even he could not perma- 
nently resist the mandate of his superiors. 

With the keenest anxiety all eyes were now 
turned upon the young Emperor, Charles V. 
The latter was indebted for his imperial crown in 
no small degree to the support of the German 
princes, and it was fondly hoped that, upon 
fuller information, he would prove a valiant de- 
fender of at least the political rights of the op- 
pressed Germans, which now found their boldest 
advocate in the monk of Wittenberg. 



CHAPTER XII. 



THE HERO AT WORMS. 



According to the papal theory, it was the duty 
of the Emperor to use all his power in the sup- 
pression of heresy. A bull of excommunication 
should be followed by the much- dreaded Ban of 
the Empire. To secure this was now the chief 
aim of the new papal legate, the unscrupulous 
and tireless Aleander. 

The Emperor cared little for the religious dis- 
putes of the day, and had no sympathy with the 
national feeling of his German subjects. Trained 
as a zealous Roman Catholic in Spain, he would 
under ordinary circumstances have sacrificed 
Luther without hesitancy at the bidding of the 
Pope. He now, however, resolved to make 
political capital out of the discontent of Ger- 
many. He was himself just at this juncture very 
desirous of securing some concessions from the 
Pope, which the latter was little disposed to grant. 
Presuming that he could at any time quiet the 
rising storm, he refused therefore to speak the 
word of command, and even fanned the rlame of 
hostility toward the papacy. 

In accordance with this policy, he on Nov. 
28th sent a message to the Elector Frederick, 
requesting him to bring his Wittenberg professor 
with him to the Diet soon to assemble at Worms. 
This order was, however, upon the urgency of the 
papal party, afterwards revoked. 

On Feb. 13th, Aleander, presented to the 
Diet an official communication from the Pope, 
(79) 



80 LUTHER, THE REFORMER. 

calling upon the Emperor and princes of the 
realm to at once take measures to make the second 
and final Bull against the Reformer (issued in 
January) effective. The appeal was supported by 
the legate in a wily oration three hours in length, 
in which he traced the resemblance of Luther's 
teaching to that of the hated Bohemians, and 
emphasized his rejection not only of the papal 
supremacy, but of the final authority of a general 
council as well. As designed, this address alien- 
ated from Luther not a few who sympathized with 
him in his assaults upon the papacy, but who 
still regarded the general councils as infallible and 
as their only resource for the correction of griev- 
ances. The Emperor, who had meanwhile se- 
cured the desired favors at the hands of the Pope, 
expressed himself as now ready to meet the desire 
of the latter, and accordingly laid before the Diet 
the draft of an edict, condemning the books of 
Luther and ordering his arrest. 

After a heated discussion, which almost led to 
blows, it was reported to the Emperor that such 
a course would produce disturbance throughout all 
Germany, and he was requested to allow Luther 
the privilege of publicly recalling his heretical 
utterances. Should he do this, it was hinted that 
it might be well to hear his views "upon other 
points," i. e., upon national questions. To this 
the Emperor agreed, and a courteous summons 
was at once forwarded to the Reformer, assuring 
him ' ' safe conduct ' ' to and from the Diet. The 
papists were enraged, but helpless. 

Luther promptly decided to obey the call. 
Hearing that he would be expected to recant, 
he said: "This shall be my recantation: I have 
said that the Pope is the representative of Christ 
(on earth) ; this I now recall, and declare that the 



THE HERO AT WORMS. 81 

Pope is the enemy of Christ and an emissary of 
the devil." 

On April 2d, after completing an uncompromis- 
ing rejoinder to the pamphlet of an assailant, 
Catharinus, he set out upon the journey, pre- 
ceded by the imperial herald, and greeted on 
every hand by great throngs of his fellow-country- 
men. Eeceiyed with enthusiasm at Erfurt, he 
remained there oyer Sunday, and preached a fer- 
vent sermon upon the text: u Peace be unto 
you." Just as the party drew near to Worms, 
there was published an edict forbidding the dis- 
semination of the books of Luther and thus 
clearly indicating the temper of the monarch. 
In face of this, even the herald hesitated to ad- 
vance. Spalatin, the Elector's chaplain, sent a 
warning, pointing to the fate of Huss. But the 
dauntless champion of the truth replied: "I 
would enter Worms, though there were as many 
devils there as tiles upon the roofs of the houses." 

In the streets of the city he was met by a 
cavalcade of prominent personages and, sur- 
rounded by a throng of two thousand of the 
populace, conducted to his inn. As he alighted 
from his carriage he fervently ejaculated: u God 
will be with me." 

On the next day, April 17th, he was summoned 
before the Diet. It was a notable assembly — 
the Emperor, six electoral princes, whole ranks of 
the lower nobility of Germany, and an imposing 
array of papal officials. Luther fully appreciated 
the gravity of the occasion and at first appeared 
overawed. He was told that he was merely to 
answer two questions : first, whether he was 
the author of certain books, whose titles were 
read to him; and secondly, whether, if so, he 
was willing to recall their contents. To the first 
6 



82 LUTHER, THE REFORMER. 

question he replied in the affirmative. As the 
second was of such importance, he requested that 
a short time be granted him for the preparation 
of his answer — a favor which was reluctantly 
granted. 

When recalled late on the following day, he 
was asked: " Do you defend all of your books, or 
are you willing to recall some things. " Adapting 
his reply (given in Latin) to the new form of the 
question, he declared that some of his books are 
purely devotional in character, and commended 
even by his enemies. The second class of his 
writings are those directed against the corruptions 
of the papacy: to recall these would but give en- 
couragement to that horrible tyranny. The third 
class consists of his publications against individ- 
uals. In these he confessed to have sometimes 
used intemperate language. The doctrines taught 
in these he is willing to recall whenever refuted by 
citations from the prophets or evangelists. He 
closed with an eloquent and fearless appeal to 
the Emperor and princes to meet bravely the re- 
sponsibility which Gocl had laid upon them. 
Upon request, the response was repeated in Ger- 
man. The papal spokesman, after consultation, 
pronounced the reply of Luther irrelevant, de- 
clared that a refutation of his teachings was un- 
necessary, as they had been already condemned 
by the Council of Constance, and demanded a 
plain, direct answer to the question whether he 
would recant or not. Rising to the height of the 
occasion, he then uttered the immortal words; 

" Unless convinced by the testimony of Scrip- 
ture or evident reasons (for I trust neither the 
Pope nor councils alone, since it is certain that 
they have often erred and contradicted them- 
selves), I am bound by my own writings, as 



THE HERO AT WORMS. 83 

cited, and my conscience is held captive by the 
Word of God. Recant I neither can nor will, 
since it is unsafe and dishonest to act against con- 
science. * * I cannot do otherwise. Here I 
stand. So help me God! Amen." 

In the midst of the tempest that ensued, the 
Emperor rose and dissolved the Diet. Summon- 
ing the members again very early the next morn- 
ing, he expressed his regret at having so long 
parleyed with the contumacious monk, and de- 
clared his purpose, after returning the latter to 
Wittenberg according to his pledge, to at once 
proceed to final measures against him. 

Moved in part by sympathy, more largely by 
fears of insurrection, the Diet pleaded for delay, 
in order to effect, if possible, some compromise. 
The Emperor granted a respite of three days. 
Now it was that the fortitude of Luther was most 
severely tested. A large commission of prom- 
inent officials known to be kindly disposed to- 
ward him was appointed by the Diet. For days 
these men pleaded with him. exhausting all their 
skill in endeavoring to shake his resolution. They 
waived entirely the point of submission to the 
Pope, and implored him to submit his writings 
without reserve to the judgment of a general 
council — as he had once been willing to do. 
They argued that bloodshed would thus be pre- 
vented; that quite a time must elapse before such 
a council could be assembled, and that the delay 
would be favorable to his cause; that the very 
calling of a council, in face of the condemnation 
already pronounced by the Pope, would be a 
great victory for him; and that its decisions would 
in all probability be in his favor. But in vain! 
Luther was willing to submit his writings to any 
candid tribunal, but insisted that thev and ail 



84 LUTHER, THE REFORMER. 

human documents must be finally tested by the 
Word of God alone. Upon this principle he 
staked life and all, leaving the results with God. 

But what would now become of Luther, was 
the question upon every hand. Even though the 
pledge of safe-conduct, violated in the case of 
Huss, should now be faithfully kept, it would 
expire within twenty-one days Should he then 
be left at the mercy of his foes ? 

A plan w r as soon perfected. Luther started off 
amid the plaudits of his friends. After some 
days' travel the imperial guard w r as dismissed. 
As the coach in which he rode with his traveling 
companion from the monastery and his friend, 
Amsdorf, was passing through a shaded road in 
the forest, a band of horsemen suddenly fell upon 
them. The monk, terrified, was allowed to es- 
cape. Amsdorf made a show of noisy resistance 
for a time, and was then suffered to proceed with 
the frightened coachman. Luther was led by a 
circuitous route to the Wartburg, a strong castle 
overlooking the town of Eisenach. 

Meanwhile, the ban of the Empire was pro- 
nounced. The severest penalties were threatened 
to any person w T ho should harbor the outlaw, or 
give him food or drink. Every faithful subject 
w r as commanded to aid in arresting him and send- 
ing him to the Emperor. His books were to be 
burned and their printing forever interdicted. 
The language of the document was certainly suf- 
ficiently vigorous, but not unwillingly does the 
pen of history record the facts, — that it harmed 
no one, that it was the last of its kind ever pro- 
mulgated, and that its dark anathemas can to-day 
be deciphered only in the radiance reflected from 
the name of its intended victim. 



period m. 



PRACTICAL REFORMATION. A. D. 1521-1546. 



CHAPTER I. 



THE WARTBURG EXILE. 



The sudden disappearance of Luther awakened 
intense feeling throughout Germany. Many at 
once concluded that he had been murdered. The 
shrewd Aleander surmised the truth, and reported 
to Rome: " The Saxon fox has hidden the monk." 
Very effectually was he concealed, his nearest 
friends having for a long time no certain knowl- 
edge of his place of refuge. The Emperor and 
his advisers, fully occupied with the political diffi- 
culties surrounding them, made no serious attempt 
to capture the fugitive, being satisfied to have, as 
they supposed, imposed silence upon him. 

For. the Reformer himself the change of sur- 
roundings was exhilarating. For the first time in 
his life he now lived in ease and luxury. He 
roamed through the capacious grounds of the cas- 
tle overlooking his beloved Eisenach, gathering 
berries in the woods and listening to the warbling 
of the birds. Attired as a knight, with sword 
by his side and a golden chain about his neck, he 
rode at will with his valet through the neighbor- 
ing villages, greatly enjoying the humor of the 
situation. Occasionally he joined in the chase, 
(85) ' 



Ob LUTHER, THE REFORMER. 

but accounted it poor sport. His sympathies 
were all with the poor hunted hares, which seemed 
to him a picture of the persecuted Christians of 
the day, while the cruel hounds were cardinals 
and bishops. He would rather have hunted the 
bears and wolves that were devastating the 
Church. Thus even his diversions were con- 
stantly made to furnish illustrations and sugges- 
tions for the great work in which his whole soul 
was enlisted. 

Bitterly does he lament his enforced " idle- 
ness;' J yet he was always busy. With no books 
at hand but his Greek and Hebrew Bibles, he at 
once addressed himself to earnest work, and 
within three weeks had several important docu- 
ments well under way. He completed his com- 
mentary upon the " Magnificat," sending it to 
the publisher early in June. This had been pre- 
ceded by an exposition of Psalm Ixviii., which 
breathed the spirit of triumphant joy, and consti- 
tuted one of the profoundest of all his writings 
upon the experience of Christ. 

With impatience, but with unsparing severity, 
he replied to various publications of his ad- 
versaries, who were appalled to find that the ex- 
communicated and outlawed monk was as terrible 
in exile as when holding his seat of honor in the 
University. 

Among the positive results of the quiet hours of 
reflection in his c ' Patmos, ' ' was a clear conviction 
upon the subject of monastic vows. He had 
long held that the enforced celibacy of the priests 
was, according to 1 Tim. iv. 1, a doctrine of 
devils; but the vows of monks and nuns, having 
been voluntarily assumed, appeared to him to be 
of binding force. He felt that their results were 
evil, and longed to break the yoke of bondage 



THE WARTBURG EXILE. 87 

under which so many thousands were groaning; 
yet he would not countenance wrong nor advance 
a single step without clear scriptural authority. 
The arguments adduced by Carlstadt and Me- 
lanchthon seemed to him insufficient. At length 
he found an adequate ground for the abrogation 
of these vows in the mistaken views with which 
they had been assumed. They were regarded as 
works of merit — a means of gaining the favor of 
God — and were hence directly opposed to the 
gospel plan of salvation by faith. Being opposed 
to the Gospel, they were sinful and could have no 
binding authority. 

For Luther, to see the truth was to be resistlessly 
impelled to announce it before the world. With 
no regard for the possible consequences, his calm, 
logical argument is hurled as an emancipation 
proclamation from the castle walls. On every 
hand, convent doors are thrown open, and the 
entire structure of monasticism is doomed. 

The Romish priesthood had long maintained its 
hold upon the masses through an unscrupulous 
use of the confessional. It soon became known 
that this secret agency was being employed to 
warn the multitudes against the arch-heretic, and 
to command them, under penalty of eternal death, 
to destroy his writings. To counteract this scheme, 
the great father-confessor of awakened Germany 
issued his Instruction for the Confessing. 
He did not, as some others, advocate the abolition 
of the custom of auricular confession, as he re- 
garded it, when rightly employed., as a valuable 
means of consoling and strengthening the weak. 
He insisted only that it should be purely volun- 
tary, and that every Christian layman was em- 
powered to conduct it, since its authority was 
derived not from the station of the administrant, 



88 LUTHER, THE REFORMER. 

but solely from the divine words of pardon which 
it announced to the penitent. Thus conceived, 
the ordinance was deprived entirely of its value 
to the hierarchy as a means of terrifying and con- 
trolling the masses. In this form, it has continued 
in the Church to the present day, except where 
supplanted by the general confession of the ' ' pre- 
paratory service." 

With amazement Luther now learned that the 
Cardinal-archbishop, Albrecht of Mayence, the 
former patron of Tetzel, had begun the sale of in- 
dulgences upon a grand scale at Halle. That the 
foremost ecclesiastical prince of Germany should 
have the effrontery to thus ignore all that had 
occurred in the stirring half-decade just passed 
seemed incredible. The author of the Ninety- 
five Theses at once prepared a fierce denunciation of 
the "new idolatry at Halle," but, induced by the 
alarmed Elector, consented to delay its publica- 
tion and content himself with an exceedingly 
plain letter to the Archbishop. He demands 
from him a reply within fourteen days, and de- 
clares that, if a satisfactory response is not received 
within that time, he will show the whole world 
the difference between a bishop and a wolf. The 
proud cardinal hastened to prostrate himself as a 
4 'poor sinful worm" at the feet of the outlawed 
heretic, and the sale of indulgences ceased. 

But it was only under compulsion that Luther 
"wasted" the precious hours in controversial 
writing. His favorite labors were those devoted 
to the edification of the little band of persecuted 
believers. He rejoiced in the opportunity now 
afforded of continuing his Latin Exposition of 
the Psalms, but soon turned from this to the 
still more congenial task of preparing sermons in 
German upon the appointed scripture lessons for 



THE WARTBURG EXILE. 89 

the successive Sundays of the church-year. These 
were published in sections under the title, Church 
Postils, the series being completed in later years 
by friends of the Reformer. Besides being eagerly 
bought by the laity, they were read from many 
pulpits and became models for thousands of sim- 
ilar discourses, proving thus a most effective 
means of bringing the great truths of salvation 
home to the hearts of the people. Luther him- 
self considered them the best of all his writings. 
While outspoken in denunciation of papal errors, 
they emphasize the great doctrines of repentance 
and grace, and are pervaded by a tone of lofty 
confidence in the final triumph of the truth. 

Toward the close of the year 1521 was begun 
the greatest work of the Reformer's life, the 
translation of the Bible from the original 
tongues into the language of the common people. 
For such a task he had peculiar fitness. His 
vivid imagination and his deep spiritual nature 
enabled him to catch the spirit of the sacred 
writers, while his thorough familiarity with the 
common language and the aspirations of his own 
beloved countrymen enabled him to express the 
inspired thought in simple, touching phrase 
which made it appear almost as a new revelation. 
No pains were spared to make the work as nearly 
perfect as possible. He studied the language of 
the peasants in their homes and upon the street, 
and talked with mechanics as they plied their 
trade. Portions of the work were given to the 
press from time to time, and within less than 
three months the entire New Testament was com- 
pleted. It was only, however, after thorough 
revision in conjunction with his learned associ- 
ates at Wittenberg, that the work appeared in 
September, 1522. 



CHAPTER II. 



A TEMPEST STILLED. 



The unrighteous edict of Worms served to re- 
veal alike to friend and foe how thoroughly the 
teachings of the despised monk had permeated 
all classes of the German nation. Feeble efforts 
were made here and there to enforce its require- 
ments in the burning of the books of Luther, but 
these could but awaken ridicule. On every hand 
the power of Pope and Emperor was defied. 
Anonymous pamphlets, passing from hand to 
hand, depicted with keenest satire the course of 
events at Worms. 

The University at Wittenberg, deprived of 
its illustrious head, was still regarded as the cen- 
tre of spiritual illumination. To it eager students 
flocked from distant lands. The course of study 
was greatly enlarged under the direction of Luther, 
and vigorous young scholars of evangelical views 
were called to fill the newly-established profes- 
sorial chairs. The popularity of the youthful 
professor of Greek, IManchthon, was unbounded. 
All learning was there made subservient to the 
proper understanding and illustration of the Scrip- 
tures, and the dauntless spirit of the great Re- 
former appeared still to pervade the whole com- 
munity. 

Such enthusiasm could not long remain with- 
out practical results. Why should the abuses 
be longer tolerated w r hich public sentiment now 
so heartily condemned? Should all this throb- 
bing energy be wasted in mere words ? 0, for an 
(90) 



A TEMPEST STILLED. 91 

intrepid leader! Melanehthon, the timid student, 
could not undertake such a task. Where should 
the new Luther be found ? 

How natural that incompetent, impetuous spir- 
its should now come to the front, and that, as the 
excited populace followed them, reckless violence 
should mark the first assaults upon long-estab- 
lished customs. In the Augustinian monastery 
of the town, a monk, named Gabriel Zwilling, 
entering the pulpit which Luther had long filled, 
assailed with vehemence the abuses of the mass, 
demanded that the cup be granted to the laity, 
denounced the monastic system, and finally, with 
twelve associates, publicly renounced his allegiance 
to the monastery. The incident caused great ex- 
citement in the community, and was accompanied 
with violent demonstrations. Similar scenes were 
enacted at Erfurt and elsewhere. A general 
convention of the Augustinian Order of Ger- 
many, held at Wittenberg in January (at which, 
however, but few officials from abroad were pres- 
ent), proclaimed that no one should be compelled 
to remain in a monastery against his own con- 
victions of duty, and admonished all, whether 
departing or remaining, to conduct themselves 
peaceably and devote themselves to useful labors. 
This action was taken in pursuance of advice re- 
ceived directly from the absent "brother" at the 
Wartburg, and was in reality an entire surrender 
of the principle upon which the maintenance of 
the monasteries depended. Many of the monks 
availed themselves of the liberty thus granted, 
but failed to observe the accompanying admoni- 
tion, and the disturbances continued. 

Among the professors at the University was 
Carlstadt, a man of marked talent and restless 
energy, but fickle, conceited and imprudent — in 



92 LUTHER, THE REFORMER. 

argument or action always taking the second step 
before the first. After the Leipzig Disputation 
he had withdrawn his support from Luther and 
again courted the favor of the Church, but he 
now suddenly appeared as a reformer far in ad- 
vance of Luther. He declared it to be not only 
a privilege but the duty of the clergy to marry, 
pronounced it a sin to remain in a monastery, 
and proposed all manner of social innovations. 
He upon his own responsibility administered the 
cup to the laity, made contempt for the estab- 
lished fast-days a test of piety, and urged the 
populace to tear down the pictures in the churches 
and destroy the altars. 

In the midst of the tumultuous scenes which fol- 
lowed, there appeared three men from Zwickau, 
calling themselves prophets. They claimed to 
have received direct revelations from God in vis- 
ions, and to be authorized to establish a new 
spiritual kingdom. They denounced infant bap- 
tism as especially obnoxious, and announced that 
the end of the world was at hand. Multitudes 
were deceived by the exalted claims of these men. 
Even Melanchthon wavered and knew not how to 
meet their arguments, receiving one of them, a 
former pupil of his, into his own house. Carl- 
stadt at once became a zealous convert, adopting 
the wildest mystical notions, and advising his 
students to abandon their studies and apply them- 
selves to useful labor. Soon all w 7 as in confusion. 
Hundreds forsook the University and departed to 
their homes, carrying the fanatical ideas through- 
out all Germany. It was reported that even Me- 
lanchthon w T as about to leave in despair. 

And all this was at Wittenberg, the centre of evan- 
gelical truth. The natural result, exolaimed the 
adversaries, of the teachings of the heretical monk ! 



A TEMPEST STILLED. \)6 

But above the tumult there was one unclouded 
mind — one heart undaunted. As by instinct, 
Luther, from the meagre reports reaching him, 
comprehended the situation of his beloved 
Wittenbergers, and resolved to prove his loyalty 
to them and to the greater cause imperiled by 
their folly. Already in December he had, in 
knightly disguise, journe} T ed to Wittenberg and 
made personal investigation of the condition of 
affairs. Upon his return, he had published his 
Faithful Warning against Insurrection. He 
had calmly viewed the vagaries of the Zwickau 
prophets ; but now, as the agitation overleaps 
all bounds, he notifies the Elector that he pro- 
poses to bid farewell to his secure retreat and 
return to the post of duty. A bold step, in- 
deed! He is still an outcast from the Church and 
an outlaw in the land. The disturbances at Wit- 
tenberg have alienated many of his friends and 
encouraged his enemies to fresh zeal. The repre- 
sentatives of the nation, assembled at Nuremberg, 
have just resolved on aggressive measures to make 
the edict of Worms effective. The Elector can 
afford no protection outside of the castle walls, 
and plainly tells Luther so. Promptly comes the 
response: " I go forth under a far higher than an 
Elector's protection. * * * He whose faith is 
strongest will in these days prove the best pro- 
tector. ' ' 

Arriving at Wittenberg, March 6th, a few days 
are spent in quiet consultation with friends. On 
Sunday, the 9th, he ascends the pulpit of the 
parish church and in a series of eight daily ser- 
mons announces his own views upon the ques- 
tions in dispute and carries with him resistless! y 
the convictions of his hearers. He first summons 
them to serious reflection in view of approaching 



94 LUTHER, THE REFORMER. 

death and judgment, and presses home the great 
themes of repentance and faith. He then cordially 
applauds the energy of their faith and their cour- 
age in being the first to abolish the abominable 
idolatry of the mass. With the tone of an ag- 
grieved father, he deplores their readiness to follow 
strange leaders and censures their blind zeal and 
their lack of Christian love in demanding outward 
compliance with the new order of things upon 
the part of those whose consciences are not yet 
sufficiently enlightened. He declares that no one 
can be driven to faith, but that the Word must be 
diligently preached and allowed to gradually, by 
its own power, put error to flight. 

The success of this paternal appeal was im- 
mediate and complete. The calm demeanor of 
the great leader, his persuasive eloquence, and 
the clearness of the principles announced — in 
striking contrast with the inconsistent ravings of 
the prophets — proved irresistible. Not a single 
voice was raised in opposition. Zwilling aban- 
doned his wild notions and became a disciple of 
Luther and a humble preacher of the Gospel. 
Carlstadt relapsed into silence. The storm was 
stilled. All fears vanished, and peace reigned at 
Wittenberg. The pilot was at the helm. 



CHAPTER III. 

RENEWED ACTIVITY AT WITTENBERG. 

Naturally, without fear and without exulta- 
tion, Luther now resumed his place as the 
ruling spirit of the University and village. His 
word was law, and the stormy past seemed like a 
dream. He does not appear to have at once 
undertaken regular academic lectures, as that por- 
tion of his earlier labors was being well clone by 
others. Before many months, however, we find 
him expounding whole books of the Bible to 
eager throngs of students. 

The first practical questions demanding atten- 
tion were those relating to the public worship of 
the congregations, particularly of the parish 
church, of which the Reformer was the pastor. 
Here he preached twice every Sunday, and as 
soon as practicable arranged for a daily devotional 
service, in which the chief place was assigned to a 
practical exposition of the Scriptures. He con- 
ducted also an early morning service in the 
Augustinian monastery every Sunday. 

Disapproval of the reckless course of the late 
self-appointed leaders found positive expression in 
the restoration of nearly all the customs which 
had been violently abandoned. Luther insisted 
that scrupulous regard must in all cases be mani- 
fested for the prejudices of the unenlightened, and 
that no long- established ceremonies should be 
changed until the mass of the congregation had 
by faithful preaching been prepared to accept the 
advanced measures. Subordinating entirely his 
(95) 



96 LUTHER, THE REFORMER. 

own personal preferences, he restored the services 
of the public mass, retaining as harmless the 
name, which the extremists had rejected, and 
omitting only those portions which savored dis- 
tinctly of idolatry and human presumption. The 
pictures which had escaped the iconoclastic storm 
were permitted to remain, with merely a warning 
from the pulpit and through published tracts 
against the abuses connected with them. The 
Latin language was again introduced in the fa- 
miliar liturgical formularies. The cup w r as ad- 
ministered in the Lord's Supper only to those who 
desired it, and to such at special times, in order 
not to offend the consciences of those who clung 
to the old method. Even the elevation of the 
host, which had been so closely linked with the 
worship of the consecrated elements, was retained 
for several years as an expression of reverence and 
thankfulness. Candles and the ordinary clerical 
vestments found their place again as ancient cus- 
toms. All these outward forms were regarded as 
matters of indifference, not worth contending 
about, to be regulated from time to time in ac- 
cordance w^ith the growing intelligence of the 
people. 

The chief aim was to give prominence to the 
proclamation of the pure Word of God, and 
in the new order of worship which Luther him- 
self prepared in 1523, he demanded a place for 
this in the very midst of the service, abbreviating 
and simplifying the latter, and providing for the 
gradual superseding of the Latin by appropriate 
forms in the national tongue. 

Especially did Luther seek to encourage the 
participation of all the assembled people in the 
services of praise. He pleaded personally with 
those of his associates who were known to possess 



EXTENDING INFLUENCE. 97 

poetical or musical talent to prepare suitable Ger- 
man hymns, based upon the Psalms, or other por- 
tions of the Scriptures. Failing to secure adequate 
response, he himself undertook the work, display- 
ing a gift hitherto entirety unsuspected by himself 
or others. The martyrdom of two brave young 
confessors of the truth at Brussels, in the summer 
of 1523, impelled him to give utterance to his 
deep feeling in a stirring ode in commemoration of 
their fidelity, which was soon upon the lips of the 
multitude. Early in 1524 appeared at Witten- 
berg the first collection of evangelical hymns 
in the German language, there being but eight in 
all, five of which were from the pen of Luther. 
He composed and published twenty more within 
the same year, by which time the enthusiasm of 
others had been aroused to activity in this new 
field, and the foundations laid for the rich and 
matchless hymnoiogy of the German Lutheran 
church. The labors of the Reformer in this di- 
rection culminated about 1527, in the preparation 
of his immortal battle hymn: " Ein feste Burg ist 
unser Gott." 

But the chief energies of the period now under 
review were devoted to the continuance of the 
translation of the Bible. The work done at the 
Wartburg was thoroughly revised, appearing in 
complete form in September, 1522. The more 
serious task of giving idiomatic expression to the 
rugged and often doubtful forms of the ancient 
Hebrew writers was courageously undertaken. 
Aurogallus, the new professor of Hebrew at the 
University, and Melanchthon rendered constant 
and valuable assistance, especially in fixing the 
exact meaning of the original text, and in discov- 
ering the nearest equivalents in German for un- 
usual terms, but the impress of the Reformer's 
7 



98 LUTHER, THE REFORMER. 

mind was upon every line of the completed work. 
As it left the press, appearing in sections during 
the years 1523-1524, it was from first to last 
Luther's version of the sacred volume. Though 
published without mention of the translator's 
name, the introductions to the separate books, the 
terse marginal notes, and the general preface ex- 
alting the Epistle to the Romans, with its doc- 
trine of justification by faith, as the key to the 
wdiole Scriptures, left no doubt in any mind as to 
its source. No one stopped in that age to think 
of the excellence of the translation. It was 
accepted by all classes, save the pronounced 
papists, as the pure and simple Word of God res- 
cued from the mass of human traditions by the 
fearless champion of the truth. Its condemna- 
tion by the authorities of the corrupt church but 
confirmed the conviction that the latter w T ere de- 
ceivers who could not endure the light, and in- 
creased the popular demand for the work. It 
remains to-day, substantially unchanged. Not 
only has it been the channel through which the 
message of divine grace has reached the masses of 
the German nation; but it has given fixed literary 
form to the German language itself, .which was at 
that time in a formative stage. The peasant's 
son, who felt his nationality tingling in every 
vein, who had absorbed the wisdom of the schools 
and sounded the depths of foreign tongues with- 
out surrendering his native power of forceful ut- 
terance, here voiced the highest truths in forms 
so natural that even his enemies could but accept 
them as final, and the theologian, seeking the 
eternal well-being of his countrymen, unwittingly 
became the literary dictator of the nation. 



CHAPTER IV. 

EXTENDING INFLUENCE. 

The consciousness of his high calling as the 
leader of a great movement embracing not Germany 
alone, but the entire Western Church, was now 
fully awakened in Luther, and his position as 
such was recognized even by his bitterest ene- 
mies. The zealous papist. King Ferdinand, who, 
in the absence of his brother, the Emperor, wielded 
the imperial sceptre, informed the latter in 1523 
that scarcely one man in a thousand could be 
found in the realm who was not in some measure 
infected with the new heresy. 

Luther fully realized the responsibility 
which thus rested upon him and earnestly sought 
to lay deep foundations for the future welfare of 
Church and State. 

The question of the proper training of the 
young and the instruction of the ignorant masses 
in the rudiments of saving doctrine pressed 
heavily upon him. He had these classes mainly 
in view in his exposition of the Ten Command- 
ments from the pulpit in 1516. With character- 
istic distrust of his own fitness for the undertaking, 
he now earnestly requested various friends to 
prepare for general use a series of simple questions 
and answers covering the chief articles of Christian 
faith. He at length secured the official appoint- 
ment of Justus Jonas, the provost of the Uni- 
versity, and his talented friend, Agricola, for the 
work of preparing upon this plan a " children's 
catechism," and eagerly awaited the result of 
their labors. 

(99) 



100 LUTHER, THE REFORMER, 

With the ignorant fanaticism which regards 
general education as hostile to piety, Luther had 
never the slightest sympathy. He bewailed the 
illiteracy of the masses. Already in 1520, in his 
Address to the Nobility, he had urged the necessity 
of the careful training of the young, and now that 
he found men decrying all education, and the 
town school of Wittenberg transformed into a 
bakery, he was filled with the deepest anxiety. 
Again and again he lifted up his voice in behalf 
of the neglected youth, and in 1524 published an 
earnest appeal i l to all burgomasters and councilors 
in German lands," imploring them to establish 
local schools at the public expense. He argued 
that but a portion of the money once so freely 
squandered upon indulgences, masses and pil- 
grimages w r ould suffice to ensure an adequate 
training of the rising generation, and maintained, 
with a convincing energy never since excelled, 
that the public safety w 7 as far more dependent 
upon the general intelligence than upon arma- 
ments or hoarded w r ealth. Nor were these ap- 
peals in vain. Pastor Bugenhagen re-opened the 
school at Wittenberg. Educational work was 
organized on a broad basis at Magdeburg, Nurem- 
berg, and other influential centres under the 
direction of Luther and Melanchthon, the Uni- 
versity of Wittenberg furnishing enthusiastic 
teachers. Luther himself in 1525 traveled to 
Eisleben to participate in the establishment of a 
school in the place of his birth, wmich was at once 
committed to the oversight of his friend, Agricola. 

Full recognition was also given by the Reformer 
to the claims of higher education. He main- 
tained the importance of the study of the ancient 
languages, not only because they are the sheath 
in which the keen blade of the Spirit is carried, 



EXTENDING INFLUENCE. 101 

but for their broadening influence upon the mind. 
While denouncing philosophy as sheer folly, and 
human culture as vanity, when they attempt to 
usurp the place of religion, he regarded all science 
and art as natural allies, and urged their cultiva- 
tion as tending to develop the powers which the 
Creator has wisely and graciously bestowed upon 
man. 

Serious financial questions were involved in 
the great changes wrought by the new doctrines. 
What should be done with the abandoned monas- 
teries and their valuable property ? The large en- 
dowments for the support of public and private 
masses could in many places no longer be em- 
ployed in accordance with the will of the testators. 
Many bequests to monasteries had been made by 
noble families, mainly as a provision for the sup- 
port of their indigent members who, it was 
thought, would find in these institutions a secure 
home through life. Those who still cherished the 
expectation of a return to the old order of things 
protested against the employment of these funds 
in any other than a literal accordance with the 
terms upon which they had been given. But it 
soon became evident that such were but idle 
dreamers. The whole organization of society had 
been permanently changed, and some new dispo- 
sition must be made of these now useless posses- 
sions. 

No one realized the extent of these difficulties 
more keenly nor faced them more bravely than 
did Luther. He maintained, as a general princi- 
ple, that endowments established for the sup- 
port of unchristian methods of divine worship 
could now be rightly applied only for the further- 
ance of the same ultimate end by proper and 
Christian methods. Evangelical pastors, regularly- 



102 LUTHER, THE REFORMER. 

called, were entitled to the income of parishes 
once under the jurisdiction of Romish priests, but 
could not demand this where the old order still 
prevailed. Monasteries should become schools 
for the common people, and their endowments 
might be employed for any of the legitimate pur- 
poses of education or religion. First of all, how- 
ever, a suitable portion of the invested funds 
should be returned to the indigent heirs of those 
from whom the donations had originally come, 
since the support of these was a part of the design 
of the donors. Secondly, provision should be made 
for the maintenance of the aged inmates of the 
cloisters and of the poor and unfortunate in every 
community. Only when these primary demands 
of justice and charity should have been justly 
met might the claims of education and worship 
be asserted. The views of Luther upon these 
questions were widely influential, but seldom 
attained complete triumph over the schemes of 
grasping officials or the rude violence of an ex- 
cited populace. He lamented : " The world must 
still be the world, and Satan its prince : I have 
done what I could. 7 ' 

In the midst of- these general cares, Luther was 
constantly besieged by a multitude of escaped 
monks and priests deposed for the expression 
of evangelical views. He felt a measure of per- 
sonal responsibility for the helpless condition of 
such, welcomed them to his table, and spared no 
effort to secure for them opportunities of earning 
a livelihood. We still possess many letters writ- 
ten by him in the interest of such individuals to 
princes, pastors and the directors of manufactur- 
ing establishments throughout Germany. He was 
peculiarly interested in the case of nine nuns who 
at Easter, in 1523, after appealing in vain to their 



EXTENDING INFLUENCE. 103 

relatives to secure their release from unwilling 
bondage, escaped by night from a convent at 
Nimptzsch and came to Wittenberg. He pub- 
licly commended their courageous course, found 
temporary shelter for them, and was soon gratified 
in seeing them nearly all well and permanently 
provided for, several having been married to hon- 
orable and well-to-do citizens. 

People in all manner of distress applied to 
him for aid. To some he secured the restoration 
of property wrongfully taken from them ; others 
were by his intercession relieved from the pay- 
ment of oppressive fines. Mothers appealed to 
him for counsel in regard to the marriage of their 
children, and young ladies enlisted him as an 
advocate in overcoming the opposition of relatives 
to their chosen suitors. He wrote many letters of 
consolation to the sick, the imprisoned and the 
bereaved, displaying the most delicate sympathy 
and always connecting his counsel intimately with 
some appropriate passage of the divine Word. 
These private letters not infrequently found their 
way quickly into print and carried comfort every- 
where to the homes of the afflicted. They give 
us a profound insight into the Reformer's tenderly 
sensitive nature, and mark him as the most in- 
tensely human of all the world's great leaders, 
the Apostle Paul alone excepted. 



CHAPTER V. 



THE OLD ENEMY. 



When Luther had so heroically maintained his 
position at Worms, the breach with the Church 
of Rome was recognized on all hands as complete 
and final. On all essential points he had fortified 
his doctrinal position, and had no desire to renew 
discussion with his adversaries, who could but 
re-assert their views and cite in their support the 
utterances of fallible men and the notoriously 
unreliable deliverances of popes and councils. 
He sought now only the further development of 
the doctrines which he had found so unmistak- 
ably taught in the divine Word, and their appli- 
cation to the necessities of the awakening church 
life. True, his opinions of the iniquity of the 
papal hierarchy and the blasphemous character 
of its claims were but confirmed in the course of 
his studies, and he lost no suitable opportunity 
to give open utterance to his implacable hostility. 
But he sought not controversy. As his now ex- 
ultant foes assailed him on every hand, he re- 
garded their effusions with silent contempt, or 
turned them over for refutation to the hands of 
his followers. A few prominent assailants were, 
however, still granted the honor of a direct reply, 
lest the dignity of their names should give cur- 
rency to their perverted views. 

The University of Paris had long displayed 

a degree of independence in its relations to the 

papacy which led Luther and his associates to 

anticipate a favorable disposition upon its part 

(104) 



THE OLD ENEMY. 105 

toward their efforts to emancipate the enslaved 
nations. At the time of the Leipzig Disputation, 
Luther had been willing to submit his views for 
critical examination to this unprejudiced and en- 
lightened tribunal. The theologians of the insti- 
tution then avoided an expression of their views. 
but had since practically ranged themselves upon 
the side of his enemies. Now, in April, 1521, 
they cast off all reserve, publishing a long list of 
citations from his writings, which they denounced 
as " poisonous, outrageous and pestilential here- 
sies." As these learned men. however, contented 
themselves with denunciation, and did not under- 
take to refute any of the heretic's errors, the 
latter regarded their assault with unconcealed 
contempt. He allowed Melanchthon to reply in 
Latin, and then published a translation of both 
documents, preceded and followed by a few 
caustic comments of his own. pronouncing the 
faculty of Paris "full of the snow-white leprosy 
of antichristian heresy from the crown of the head 
to the sole of the foot." He shrewdly called 
public attention to the fact that, whereas his chief 
contention with the enemy had hitherto been 
upon the subject of papal supremacy, this valiant 
defender of the faith was entirely silent upon that 
point, thus practically conceding his position in 
the great controversy, and revealing the hollow- 
ness of the boasted unity of the Romish Church. 
An annual bull had for a number of years been 
issued from Rome just before the Easter festival, 
entitled the Bull of the Supper of the Lord, 
embracing a list of all the damnable heresies 
which had prevailed in the Church. In the year 
1521, the name of Luther appeared in this terrific 
document, following those of Wickliffe and Huss. 
Receiving a copy at the YTartburg, Luther pub- 



106 LUTHER, THE REFORMER. 

lished, as a "New Year's Greeting" for the 
Pope, a rejoinder entitled : The Bull of the 
Evening Gormandizing of our Most Holy- 
Lord, the Pope, quoting in the caption the 
words of the tenth Psalm: "His mouth is full of 
cursing and deceit and fraud/' and representing 
the great head of the Church, after a luxurious sup- 
per, opening his mouth in drunken frenzy to curse 
all the world in barbarous and incoherent Latin. 

A new assailant appeared in the same year— no 
less a personage than King Henry VIII., of 
England, who at this juncture had special reasons 
for cultivating the good will of the Pope. Laying 
aside the dignity becoming his station, and prid- 
ing himself upon his rather meagre literary attain- 
ments, this monarch of a great nation, who during 
the session of the Diet at Worms had urged the 
Emperor to employ the severest measures for the 
suppression of the heretic, now condescends to a 
personal attack upon the poor monk in a foreign 
land. Professing to defend the Roman Catholic 
doctrines of the Lord's Supper, indulgences and 
the supremacy of the Pope against the strictures 
of Luther in his Babylonian Captivity, he de- 
nounces the Reformer in the coarsest and vilest 
terms. The work was dedicated to the Pope, and 
earned for its author the title, " Defender of the 
Faith," which is still proudly worn by the Pro- 
testant monarchs of England, not without some 
aversion, we may fancy, as they recall its rather 
dubious origin. A special Bull was issued from 
Rome, assuring to every one who should read this 
royal defence of the truth an indulgence releas- 
ing him from ten years' pain in purgatory, a favor, 
we may surmise, not so readily granted when, thir- 
teen years later, this same king severed the Eng- 
lish church from all allegiance to the papal throne. 



THE OLD ENEMY. 107 

To enable all Germans to secure the promised in- 
dulgence, the document was, by direction of 
Luther's inveterate enemy, Duke George of Sax- 
ony, translated into their language and widely 
scattered. It never, however, approached the cir- 
culation of the counter-publication of Luther, in 
which, after a patient re-statement and defence of 
the views assailed, the supreme importance of 
faith was strongly asserted, and full play then 
given to the Reformer's indignation and contempt, 
covering the royal antagonist with opprobrium. 
4 ; These two," he declared, " Henry and the 
Pope, -just suit together— two donkeys braying to 
one another." So terrible was the rebuke thus 
administered, that Luther's own friends were af- 
frighted, and the astonished monarch complained 
bitterly to the German princes of the grievous in- 
jury he had received at the hands of the shame- 
less monk. 

A peculiar means of attack employed by a 
pamphleteer, OocMaeus, in 1523, deserves passing 
notice, as illustrating a characteristic of the age. 
The belief in the significance of portents, or any 
unusual appearance in the natural world, was 
almost universal. The publication referred to 
describes a calf, born at Freiburg, having a bald 
pate, a monk's cowl hanging about its neck, a 
mouth like a man's, and frequently gesticulating 
like a preacher in the pulpit. Of course this 
could only portend dire disaster to the land, indi- 
cating clearly enough the monk of Wittenberg as 
the cause of the coming calamities. Luther proved 
more than a match for his antagonists, however, 
even in the interpretation of such profound mys- 
teries. He replied that the calf was a symbol of 
the absurdities of monasticism, found a counter- 
part of each deformity in some feature of the 



108 LUTHER, THE REFORMER. 

effete system, and published his explanation with 
a striking picture of the famous beast and of an 
equally strange creature found dead in the Tiber 
a quarter of a century before — an ass, having 
some remarkable resemblances to the person of 
the Pope, the latter case being clearly described 
by the pen of Melanchthon. As may be imagined, 
this illustrated publication proved very popular, 
and passed through a number of editions. 



CHAPTER VI. 



FALTERING ALLIES. 



We have seen the sympathy of Luther with the 
Humanistic movement. Its leaders in Germany 
were among his early associates at the University, 
and with many of them he continued to maintain 
the friendliest relations. He shared their love of 
learning, and they sympathized with him in his 
free criticism of the blind dogmatism of the past. 

But the Humanists, as a rule, were strangers 
to the moral earnestness of Luther. They were 
Epicureans in temper, if not in profession. They 
dreaded strife and were ready to make almost any 
sacrifice of their convictions if they might only 
pursue undisturbed their favorite studies. Not a 
few of them were, in the course of the conflict, 
drawn into full sympathy with the religious 
movement and became very valuable promoters 
of the Reformation. But the majority gradually 
withdrew their support from Luther, and either 
amused themselves by satirizing the contestants 
upon either side, or avoided the questions of dis- 
pute entirely. Luther spoke scornfully of the 
pusillanimous spirit of these enlightened men, but 
did not seriously grieve over their departure, as he 
had never fully trusted them. His deeply reverent 
nature had always been repelled by the trifling 
way in which they dealt with sacred themes. 

More serious was the widening breach between 

himself and Erasmus, the acknowledged leader 

of the Humanists. The latter was a man of 

really extensive and accurate learning, a diligent 

(109) 



110 LUTHER, THE REFORMER. 

student, and the master of an elegant Latin diction. 
He had rendered permanent service by his investi- 
gations of ancient versions of the Scriptures and by 
the publication of a Greek New Testament. He had 
traveled widely, residing and teaching in London, 
Oxford, Cambridge, in France, Italy and Holland. 
He, and the great Hebrew scholar, Reuchlin, 
were called the ' ' Eyes of Germany. ' \ By his 
keenly satirical writings against prevailing abuses, 
which were most widely circulated, he had pre- 
pared the minds of many among the educated 
classes for an open rupture with the church of Rome. 
Luther entertained a high regard for the attain- 
ments of Erasmus, and the latter at first welcomed 
the bold utterances of the monk as tending to 
break the shackles of mediseval dogmatism. An 
occasional correspondence sprung up between 
the two men, initiated by Luther, who was very 
anxious to secure as far as possible the scholarship 
and influence of the celebrated scholar for the 
cause of the Gospel. As early as 1517, however, 
he expressed to his friends distrust of the moral 
sincerity of Erasmus, and he soon became con- 
vinced that no active support was to be expected 
from the sage of Rotterdam. In 1524, he ad- 
dressed to him an exceedingly candid letter as a 
last appeal, begging him to confine himself to 
the sphere for which his talents so peculiarly fitted 
him, and not to yield his pen to the service of the 
enemy. But this plea came too late, if indeed 
its imperious tone did not, by wounding the pride 
of Erasmus, give additional energy to the assault 
which he was even then engaged in preparing. 
He had been urged by many to avenge the in- 
jured honor of England's king by entering the 
lists against Luther. This now appeared a per- 
fectly safe and politic thing to do, as Erasmus had 



FALTERING ALLIES. Ill 

finally concluded to cast in his lot with the papal 
party, and could of course promote his personal 
interests by aiding them in their desperate conflict 
with the invincible monk. 

The point of attack was most skilfully chosen. 
Erasmus did not dare to expose himself to ridicule 
by rushing to the defence of the papal absurdities 
over which he had himself so often made merry. 
He must select some theme which would call for 
scholarly treatment and which had not been 
already discussed by men less celebrated than 
himself. Luther had very broadly denied the 
ability of man by his own strength to choose or to 
do that which is right. Erasmus, the self-reliant 
representative and exponent of the culture which 
man may attain by a proper discipline of his na- 
tural jDOwers, would take up the cause of human 
ability. In September, 1524, appeared his book 
entitled: Of the Free Will. Luther at once re- 
cognized that he had here an antagonist more 
worthy of his steel than any who had yet assailed 
him. He declared openly that Erasmus was the 
first of all his enemies to touch the real heart of 
the controversy. All others had disputed about 
outward trifles, but here the very citadel of his 
teaching was assailed, and he rejoiced in the op- 
portunity to write upon themes of real importance. 
Nevertheless, the arguments of Erasmus, though 
beautifully expressed, appeared to him surpris- 
ingly weak, and he did not hesitate to oppose to 
them a thorough statement of his own views in 
the treatise entitled: Of the Enslaved Will. 
This document contains the most unqualified as- 
sertions of man's utter helplessness and of the ab- 
solute sovereignty of God. The most extreme 
views of Augustine touching the eternal divine 
decrees are cordially endorsed, and the author is 



112 LUTHER, THE REFORMER. 

at no pains to reconcile the frequent declaration, 
that ' ' all things come to pass of necessity, ' ' with 
that conviction of free agency upon which rests 
the universal sense of personal responsibility. 

In estimating the positions here assumed by 
Luther, it is important to remember that they are 
not the deductions of abstract reasoning, but were 
maintained so zealously as seemingly essential 
to the integrity of the fundamental doctrine of the 
Gospel, i. e. , salvation by pure grace, without any 
admixture of human worthiness. This doctrine, 
he felt, must be defended at all hazards, however 
trying to the human reason may be the inferences 
required. It is very noticeable that in the later 
utterances of the Reformer the extreme statements 
here defended in the heat of controversy do not 
recur, although they were never formally recalled. 
Their assertion at this time, as in the equally 
strict statements found in the theological works of 
Melanchthon, did much to emphasize the line of 
demarcation between the shallow work-righteous- 
ness of the Romish church, and the humble yet 
confident dependence upon the free mercy of God 
which distinguished the genuine Reformers, and 
which has pervaded all Lutheran theology. The 
document is not lacking in the personal invec- 
.tive which enters so largely into all the contro- 
versial writings of the period, and which Luther 
felt to be the more needful the more exalted the 
reputation of those who dared to arise as the 
champions of error. To have spoken lightly now 
would have seemed to indicate fear of his illus- 
trious antagonist or indifference to the labored 
attempt of the latter to lay a logical foundation 
for the religion of human merit. From this time 
onward, Erasmus is to be numbered among the 
open foes of the Reformation, though always 



FALTERING ALLIES. 113 

counseling moderation in the outward measures 
adopted for its suppression. 

Luther was more deeply pained by the defec- 
tion of his old friend, Staupitz, through whose 
wise counsels he had been so greatly aided in the 
days of his spiritual distress in the monastery. 
The latter, after following the fortunes of the Re- 
former for some years, though with faltering step, 
became alarmed by the increasing rancor of the 
strife and longing to end his days amid the 
peaceful activities of an established ecclesiastical 
order, had returned to the service of the papal 
church, becoming abbot of a cloister at Salzburg, 
and vicar to the cardinal-archbishop. Luther con- 
tinued to maintain correspondence with this gen- 
ial but faint-hearted man until the latter, disap- 
pointed and self-reproachful, was released from 
his trying position by death in December, 1524. 
Luther's sad comment was : ' l God has slain him, ' ' 
yet he always spoke of him with tenderest regard. 

Luther was well aware that Staupitz was the 
representative of a large number of persons who, 
fully convinced of the righteousness of his cause 
and kindly inclined toward himself, were } T et 
shrinking back into the camp of the enemy, 
frightened by the extent of the general upheaval 
of society and alienated, in part, by the seeming 
arrogance of his own bearing and the rude vigor 
of his speech. Yet he refused to moderate in the 
least the bluntness of his language, convinced that 
no smoother phraseology would suffice to arrest 
the insolence of the unscrupulous defenders of the 
apostate church nor to arouse timid believers to 
open and uncompromising resistance. Others 
might flinch before the foe; he must but stand the 
more firmly, and, though he stand alone, hurl de- 
fiance into the face of every champion of error. 



CHAPTER VII. 



EAGING PEASANTS. 



Vigorous as were the protests of Luther against 
prevailing errors, he always consistently main- 
tained that no sword but that of the Spirit must 
be used in defence of the truth. Abuses and in- 
juries must be endured in Christian meekness 
until they can be remedied by lawful means. 
Obedience to the powers that be, he urged as 
a primary duty of every Christian citizen. When, 
in his Address to the Nobility, he so fervently ap- 
peals to his countrymen to throw off the yoke of 
foreign oppressors, he always has distinctly in 
view an orderly resistance conducted by the law- 
ful leaders of the nation. But not all the agitators 
of the day were thus conscientious, and the pa- 
tient peasantry of Germany had already a hundred 
years before given evidence that their wrath, when 
fully aroused, could brook no resistance. The 
grievances were manifold, and mainly of a politi- 
cal nature. The ancient feudal system, still in 
part maintained, involved the abject subjection of 
the common man to his liege-lord and the support 
of a large body of petty nobility. The imperial 
taxes were unscrupulously levied. The Church 
was never done with its exactions, and main- 
tained its sway over the superstitious masses by 
calling to its constant aid the shadowy forms of 
departed saints, and painting in lurid colors the 
pangs of purgatory and perdition. 

When Luther now snatched the keys of heaven 
and hell from the hands of sordid ecclesiastics and 

(114) 



RAGING PEASANTS. 115 

proclaimed that a Christian man is by virtue of 
his faith a free lord over all things, multitudes 
who had no spiritual aspirations caught up the 
cry of liberty, and, ignoring the careful counter- 
statement, that the same Christian man is by virtue 
of his love a ministering servant of all, demanded 
in the name of the Reformer the demolition of 
the whole social fabric. Caristadt, vanquished 
at Wittenberg, found admittance to a pulpit in the 
neighboring town of Orlamund, and began anew 
the proclamation of his revolutionary principles. 
Expelled from Saxon territory, he traveled 
through Southern Germany, gaining followers 
in many of the larger cities. He assailed the 
Church and her outward ordinances, holding that 
true religion consists in a withdrawal of the soul 
within itself, a losing of one's self in dreamy list- 
lessness, thus appealing to the deep mystical ten- 
dency which is so marked a trait of the German 
national character. Yet with all this lauded and 
unworldly quietude he combined a spirit of reck- 
less violence, maintaining that the existing laws 
must be ignored and the ancient Mosaic law be 
rigidly enforced. Meanwhile Thomas Munzer, 
having been expelled from Zwickau early in 1521, 
had been diligently spreading his fanatical ideas 
and gaining a large following. In 1523, he set- 
tled at Alstedt in Thuringia and, still later, in 
the imperial city of Miihlhausen. He and his 
associates claimed to be ''overshadowed'' by the 
Holy Spirit, to receive frequent direct revelations 
from God in dreams, and, in obedience to these, 
they proceeded to bind the "elect" everywhere 
in solemn league, not only for the overthrow of all 
existing authority, but for the actual extermina- 
tion of all the ungodly, i. e., all who should not 
swear allegiance to their new spiritual kingdom. 



116 LUTHER, THE REFORMER. 

The ease with which such blindly fanatical notions 
were propagated is one of the most impressive 
evidences of the dense ignorance and superstition 
of the masses. A faithless Church had been for 
centuries sowing to the wind, and must now reap 
the whirlwind. 

None so clearly saw the terrible nature of the 
gathering storm as Luther. Boldly he traversed 
the disaffected regions, urging the duty of sub- 
mission to lawful authority. At Orlamund the 
excited multitude greeted him with jeers and 
curses. Carlstadt and Miinzer, as champions of 
the people, assailed him in more bitter terms than 
had ever been employed by his papal antagonists, 
and their malignant tracts were eagerly read by 
the excited multitude. Luther met them with all 
his accustomed vigor in his lengthy treatise : 
" Against the Heavenly Prophets." 

Early in 1525, the peasants gathered in angry 
mobs in Swabia and Franconia and other regions 
where Miinzer had prepared the way. The burgh- 
ers of the large cities, oppressed by the grasping 
merchants, and jealous of the power of the princes, 
made common cause with them. Their demands 
were formulated in Twelve Articles, which be- 
came the standard around which all the discon- 
tented elements in the land were -soon rallying. 
These articles prominently demanded unrestricted 
liberty in the preaching of the Gospel, and the 
right of every congregation to elect its own pastor. 
Only under cover of these Christian propositions, 
learned from Luther, appear the socialistic and 
revolutionary principles which were the real mo- 
tives of the uprising. Mingled with the fanatical 
ideas were found, however, various suggestions of 
economic reform which met the approval of Luther, 
and which a later age has embodied in the statu- 



RAGING PEASANTS. H7 

tory laws of Germany. Luther at once prepared 
a response to this public document, expressing 
his judgment without fear or favor. He pro- 
nounces the disorderly assemblages of the peasants 
as acts of open and ungodly insurrection, but lays 
the chief blame upon the merciless exactions of 
the rulers, whom he faithfully warns against con- 
tinuing thus to invite the terrible visitations of 
divine wrath. Then, turning to the peasants, he 
pleads with them to pursue only orderly methods 
for the redress of their grievances. 

But all pleading was in vain. The multi- 
tudes continued to flock together throughout 
southern and central Germany, burning and pil- 
laging on every hand. Miinzer's visions became 
rapturous. It was revealed to him that victory w r as 
just at hand and that the whole order of the world 
was to be changed, The princes hesitated. Should 
they venture to meet violence with force? Were 
they able to quell this almost universal uprising ? 
Then was heard a commanding voice above the 
din. Although the peasants sang and prayed and 
professed to be contending for the defence of the 
Gospel, they had become robbers and murderers, 
and must be subdued at all hazards. Luther 
called upon the princes, regardless of their relig- 
ious differences, on the basis of the secular calling 
which had been bestowed upon them, to draw the 
sword and smite the rebels to right and left with- 
out mercy. To preserve the peace and quell dis- 
order he pronounced the first duty of the civil 
ruler. 

At length the princes assumed the offensive. 
Philip of Hesse, after quelling the outbreak in his 
own dominions, joined his forces with those of his 
father-in-law, Duke George of Saxony, Duke 
Henry of Brunswick and the Count of Mansfeld, 



118 LUTHER, THE REFORMER. 

and the united army was soon face to face with a 
band of 8000 peasants entrenched behind a line 
of farm wagons at Frankenhausen. Efforts at 
conciliation were made with prospects of success 
by the representative of the new elector, John of 
Saxony, and by Luther's personal friend, the 
Count of Mansfeld, when the arrival of Miinzer 
from Miihlhausen awakened anew the frenzy of 
the multitude. On May 15th, the assault was 
made; the insurgents met it only with the singing 
of a hymn to the Holy Ghost, then fled in panic, 
Miinzer himself being taken captive. The Elector 
John, having quieted the disorder in his own do- 
main without bloodshed, now arrived from the 
south. On May 25th, Miihlhausen surren- 
dered, and Miinzer, after abject confession of his 
errors, was, with other ringleaders, executed upon 
the field. From camp to camp marched the vic- 
torious troops. Similar scenes were enacted in 
other portions of the land, and in a few weeks the 
insurrection was at an end. Fearful was the ven- 
geance of the princes, multitudes of helpless pris- 
oners being ruthlessly slain, against the earnest 
protest of Luther. It was estimated that the 
movement cost the lives of at least 100,000 of the 
infatuated peasants, while many of the fairest 
portions of Germany had deen devastated. 

The results of the insurrection were far- 
reaching for the cause of the Reformation and in 
their influence upon the personal career of Luther. 
The fear of an uprising of the common people had 
for years restrained the Roman Catholic prelates 
and princes from violent measures; but now, 
flushed with victory and charging the disturb- 
ance itself to the teachings of Luther, they were 
eager to crush out the last vestige of the Evan- 
gelical party. The Pope sent his congratulations 



RAGING PEASANTS. 119 

to Philip of Hesse upon the noble stand which he 
had taken against the "ungodly Lutherans." 
On July 19th, 1525, a league was formed at 
Dessau between the princes, George of Saxony. 
Joachim of Brandenburg, Albert of Mayence, and 
the Dukes of Brunswick for mutual defence and 
for the extermination of the " accursed Lutheran 
sect. ' ' 

Meanwhile, the personal influence of Luther 
had been neutralized in many quarters. Not a 
few of his warmest adherents were alienated by 
his advocacy of the use of the sword, failing to 
comprehend his doctrine of the divine right of 
civil rulers. He was charged with deserting the 
cause of the poor and the oppressed in the hour 
of their sorest need in order to gain the favor of 
the ruling classes. Those who had been won by 
his fearless denunciations of oppression, but who 
did not sympathize with his religious views, 
now lost all interest in the cause of the Refor- 
mation. 

From this time onward, Luther ceased to be 
the popular hero of the German nation. Even 
his life was frequently threatened by those who 
had once idolized his name. He had stirred up 
in turn priests, princes and peasants to bitterest 
enmity, and all the good that he h<ad accom- 
plished seemed to be forgotten. Doctrinal dis- 
putes had meanwhile hopelessly divided the 
Evangelical party, and the socialistic agitation 
had left Wittenberg almost deserted. The Elector 
Frederick, faithful friend and protector, died on 
May 5th, and was buried in the castle-church 
amid the lamentations of the multitude, the 
funeral services being conducted by Luther and 
Melanchthon. 

Again the Reformer seemed to stand alone. 



120 LUTHER, THE REFORMER. 

He had faced the fury of fanaticism as fearlessly 
as he had once braved the thunders of the papacy 
— had smitten wrong on every hand until the 
whole world seemed arrayed against him. It 
was the darkest hour in the history of Luther. 



CHAPTER VIII. 



HOLY BONDS. 



Never was the dauntless spirit of the Re- 
former more clearly manifested than in these 
days of universal gloom. With clangers thicken- 
ing on every side, he wrote to a friend on May 
4th : "To spite the devil, I mean to take my 
Katie to wife before I die. They shall, at ail 
events, not rob me of my courage and good 
cheer. ' ' Even this most personal step could not 
be taken without direct reference to the reforma- 
tory work to whose advancement all else in 
Luther's life was held subordinate. 

He had for several years distinctly maintained 
liberty of marriage for the priesthood. He had 
encouraged many of his friends to avail them- 
selves of this liberty, but at the same time 
wondered at their temerity in assuming the re- 
sponsibility of the married state in such troublous 
times. His conception ot the cares and burdens 
incident to wedded life was such as almost to 
overshadow its advantages. When extremists at 
Wittenberg pronounced marriage a duty, he ex- 
claimed in indignation: u Thev shall never force 
a woman upon me." To the kind inquiry of a 
friend in November, 1 524, he replied that, though 
he was neither wood nor stone, and his heart was 
in the hand of the Lord, yet he had no thought 
of marrying and should not do so unless his feel- 
ing in the matter should be entirely changed. 

But when friend after friend assumed the sacred 
bonds, and he was permitted as a guest to share 
(121) 



122 LUTHER, THE REFORMER. 

the warmth and brightness of their happy homes, 
in such striking contrast with his own gloomy quar- 
ters; when enemies taunted him publicly with 
cowardice in shrinking from a course to which he 
had urged so many others; and when he learned 
through the medium of trusted friends that Cath- 
arine von Bora, one of the escaped nuns of the 
Nimptzsch convent, for whom he had made fruit- 
less efforts to secure a husband, would probably 
be willing to share the trials of his own lonely lot 
— his resolution wavered. Mysterious hints 
and playful banter began to creep into his private 
correspondence, and, with characteristic hardi- 
hood, just when his friends were all trembling in 
terror and his foes most jubilant, he startled the 
world with the sudden news: "The monk of 
Wittenberg has married a nun!" 

The simple marriage rites were, performed in 
the monastery in the presence of Bugenhagen, 
the pastor of the parish church, Justus Jonas, the 
provost of the University, a lawyer named Apel, 
and the painter, Lucas Cranach, with his wife, on 
the evening of June 13th. The marriage fes- 
tivities to which a larger number of friends, in- 
cluding the parents of Luther, were invited, were 
held two weeks later. Venison for this occasion 
'was furnished by the Elector; the town council 
sent a keg of Limbeck beer and twenty guldens; 
the University presented a silver cup plated with 
gold, and the guests brought appropriate wedding- 
gifts. 

The public announcement of the event for 
the time being overshadowed all other topics of 
conversation. Enemies, including Erasmus, at- 
tributed Luther's whole course of opposition to 
the Romish church to his passionate fretting 
under the restraints of celibacy and his admira- 



HOLY BONDS. 123 

tion for the u beautiful nun" (a designation 
which her best friends could scarcely have claimed 
for Catharine), while his friends almost without 
exception lamented the step as lowering the dig- 
nity of the great leader. Those least disposed to 
criticize were heard to say: "If it only had not 
happened just now, or if he had chosen some 
other than a nun!" Melanchthon thought his 
friend heartless to indulge in wedding festivities 
when the whole land was in mourning. But 
Luther was undisturbed. He had the approval 
of his conscience, his father and his God, and had 
been enabled to strike another sturdy blow at the 
foundations of the perverted system of the papacy. 
The married life of Luther proved a happy 
one. He entertained a cordial respect for his self- 
reliant and capable companion, whom he play- 
fully called his "Lord Katie," and to whom he 
committed the unreserved charge of the domestic 
economy. Nor was it a slight undertaking for 
this maiden of six and twenty years to enter into 
life-partnership with so famous a man, her senior 
b} r sixteen years, accustomed from early youth to 
masculine society alone, and confirmed in his 
habits of life by the long discipline of a monas- 
tery. But Catharine possessed a dauntless spirit. 
Her capacity for the discharge of household 
duties had been displayed in the home of the city 
clerk, Reichenbach. Her attractive personality 
had secured her marked favors at the hand of 
Christian, the exiled king of Denmark, and she 
had always been perfectly at ease in the presence 
of the learned men who gathered at Wittenberg. 
She had discovered, too, what a warm heart beat 
beneath the stern exterior of the Reformer, and 
she had never, like her associates, felt overawed 
in his presence. He, upon his part, repelled at 



124 

first by her dignity, which he attributed to pride, 
seems to have been won at length by her decision 
and candor. If she did not enter very heartily 
into the theological discussions of the day, she 
yet knew that Luther was always right, and she 
entertained a hearty aversion to the tyranny of 
that church which had imprisoned her for ten 
years within the dingy walls of a convent. Her 
highest ambition now was to prove herself a real 
helpmeet to her overburdened husband. 

It was no luxuriously-furnished home to 
which the bride was led. For some months 
Luther's only associates had been his cloister- 
brother, Jacob Praepositus, and a little dog. For 
more than a year no one had made the Reformer's 
bed. There were still dust-covered dishes in the 
closets, and here and there some pieces of modest 
furniture which the departing monks had been 
unable to carry with them. Order and comfort 
now quickly sprung into being at the magic touch 
of a woman's hand, and a tone of renewed hope- 
fulness soon became noticeable in the Reformer's 
bearing, alternating, however, with periods of de- 
pression and anticipations of approaching death. 
He himself found it difficult to realize that he was 
actually a married man, a fact of v^hich Katie was 
not slow to remind him from time to time. His 
work went on without interruption, 



CHAPTER IX. 

HE-ORGANIZATION OF THE CHURCH. 

Luther's plan of patient toleration in matters 
of external form had now been pursued for sev- 
eral years. Under the faithful preaching of the 
Gospel and the bold denunciation of papal abuses, 
the great body of the people at Wittenberg and in 
many other centres of influence had gradually 
lost interest in the old forms and learned to think 
of the Church as independent of the Roman hier- 
archy. Released from their ancient bondage, they 
were scattered as sheep without a shepherd. 

It was evident that the time had come for a 
re-organization upon the basis of evangelical 
principles. Arrangement must be made for the 
supply of capable ministers and for their ade- 
quate support. There must also be some bond of 
union between the scattered congregations, and 
some means of awakening renewed interest in 
localities where the populace had long been in- 
different to all religious life. 

The task was a stupendous one. Luther 
shrunk from it, not only because he himself had 
little talent for organization, but because he feared 
that the new life of the Church might be again 
stifled under a system of outward laws and regu- 
lations. He desired to allow in external things 
the largest liberty consistent with order and 
efficient oversight. In his own home, Saxony, 
any movement in this direction was hindered by 
the extremely conservative spirit of the aged 
Elector, who pleaded that no unnecessarv inno- 
(125) 



126 LUTHER, THE REFORMER. 

vations should be made in worship or the govern- 
ment of the congregations until the voice of the 
Church at large could be heard through a general 
council. While in the parish church at Witten- 
berg, under the immediate direction of Luther, 
the services were gradually divested of all ob- 
jectionable features, the castle church continued 
to observe all the ancient ceremonies. Nearly a 
thousand masses for souls were annually cele- 
brated, and 35,000 pounds of wax were burned 
each year in honor of departed saints. Luther 
could, at length, no longer endure this inconsist- 
ency, and, regardless of the displeasure of the 
Elector, he denounced from the pulpit the idolatry 
thus encouraged in his prince's church. After 
an entire year of ceaseless and determined agita- 
tion, the authorities of the church yielded to the 
force of public opinion, and at Christmas, 1524, 
the masses were abandoned. With this con- 
cession Luther was satisfied for the time being, 
although in all other points the ancient Romish 
customs were continued. 

Upon the death of the beloved Elector, Fred- 
erick the Wise, the accession of his more posi- 
tive and aggressive brother, John the Steadfast, 
opened the way for more efficient measures of 
reform, and, despite the terrors of the Peasant 
War, then just inaugurated, and the important 
changes in Luther's private life, the latter was 
not slow to improve the providential opportunity. 
Already on the 20th of May he sent to the 
camp of the new Elector before Miihlhausen, a 
plan for the re-organization of the University, 
which at once received cordial endorsement. The 
popish ceremonies at the castle church were now 
at once abandoned, and special instructions issued 
to pastors throughout Saxony to preach only the 



RE-ORGANIZATION OF THE CHURCH. 127 

pure Gospel and to administer the sacraments in 
the form in which Christ had instituted them. 

On October 20th, a new order of worship, 
prepared by Luther and approved by the Elector, 
was introduced into the parish church at Witten- 
berg. It was adapted particularly to the existing 
circumstances of the congregation, and Luther did 
not regard it as a final, fixed form, nor did he de- 
sire that "any better orders" in use elsewhere 
should be displaced by it. The use of vestments, 
candles, etc., was to be continued " as long as they 
last, or until we choose to alter them," He re- 
commended that, for the sake of good order, only 
one form of service should be employed in each 
city or principality. His own formula was widely 
distributed and adopted, with greater or less vari- 
ation, in many other places. It was, however, in 
direct contravention of his own desire, when, in 
the Lenten season of 1526, an electoral mandate 
required the introduction of the latter throughout 
the realm. In Southern Germany, the necessities 
of the case had already led to the adoption of var- 
ious forms of worship, which were commonly 
simpler and prepared with less regard to tradi- 
tional customs. However diversified these new 
orders, they were all distinctly evangelical in char- 
acter, and their employment indicated a final sep- 
aration from the Romish church. 

But Luther felt that far more essential mat- 
ters than these demanded attention. Most im- 
portant of all was the proper instruction of the 
people, and especially the training of the young. 
To this end, he had already furnished valuable 
contributions in various publications which after- 
wards formed the basis of his catechisms. It was 
now felt that there should be some system of reg- 
ular oversight. The bishops had long neglected 



128 

their duties, and the masses of the people were 
sunken in almost incredible ignorance. Luther 
had himself, in 1524, visited a number of commu- 
nities and learned from his own observation how 
sore was the need of spiritual training. He now 
called upon the Elector and princes of the realm to 
act as "emergency bishops" in establishing pas- 
toral districts, appointing ministers, and organiz- 
ing schools, basing their right to act in such mat- 
ters, not upon their secular offices, but upon their 
position as the most influential among the general 
congregation of believers. When the princes re- 
fused to undertake such work, he urged congrega- 
tions to select from their own number competent 
men and solemnly set these apart as pastors to 
administer the Word and sacraments. In some 
cases, the councils of cities in which evangelical 
views were in the ascendancy assumed the author- 
ity of calling ministers. Luther approved of all 
these methods, well content when in any orderly 
way the Gospel was permitted to have free course 
among the people. He as little thought of de- 
manding uniformity in church organization as in 
liturgical formulas. 

In Saxony, the cordial sympathy of the court 
opened to the Reformers a wide field of usefulness, 
Committees of visitation were appointed, embrac- 
ing theologians and laymen, Luther and Melanch- 
thon themselves accepting their share of the active 
work. The formal visitation, beginning in 
1527, revealed a state of spiritual destitution far 
beyond all anticipations. Ignorant tradesmen 
who had for years been acting as Romish priests, 
falling in with the popular current, had professed 
adherence to the Gospel, but were unable to preach 
— in some cases, could not even read. The rude 
peasants had in many places lost all regard for re- 



RE-ORGANIZATION OF THE CHURCH. 129 

ligion, and were so utterly abandoned to vice that 
the visitors despaired of effecting their reformation 
and directed their own efforts almost entirely to 
the rescuing of the children. 

Many practical difficulties were encountered. 
The peasants, freed from the exactions of the 
bishops, were unwilling to make any free-will of- 
ferings for the support of an evangelical ministry, 
and the property of the monasteries had been 
already in great part appropriated by the secular 
princes. The local nobility, many of whom still 
held allegiance to the Romish church, claimed the 
right of appointing the parish priests, or pastors. 
Melanchthon, almost in despair at the prevail- 
ing disorder, was at times ready to compromise 
with the bishops, allowing the re-instatement 
of the ancient ceremonies and of the episco- 
pal authority, if but the free preaching of the 
Gospel should be conceded. The Instructions 
for Church Visitors, prepared by him, was made 
the basis of a more general and thorough prosecu- 
tion of the work in the following year. The organ- 
izing talent of Bugenhagen, the pastor at Witten- 
berg, rendered invaluable service, as also the 
counsels of the practical Hausman, under whose 
able ministry almost the entire population of 
Zwickau had been won to the side of the Reforma- 
tion. Similar efforts in other portions of Germany 
were influenced more or less directly by the prin- 
ciples announced in Saxony, and thus the evangel- 
ical movement gradually assumed something like 
a definite and permanent form, by its inherent 
power superseding the everywhere discredited 
jurisdiction of the Romish bishops. When, in 
1529, the catechisms of Luther appeared, they 
found a cordial reception and formed an in- 
dissoluble bond of spiritual unity between the 
9 



130 LUTHER, THE REFORMER. 

scattered congregations throughout German}^ In 
our own day, the Church Visitations of Saxony 
from 1524 to 1529, with all the anxiety and uncon- 
genial toil which they involved upon the part of 
many noble men, are remembered chiefly as having 
given occasion for the preparation of this little vol- 
ume, which has done more than all other writings 
of the Reformer to give unity of faith to the great 
and growing communion which yet bears his 
name. The fact is a most impressive illustration 
of the principle, that not organization, but clear 
statement of the truth, is the surest basis of abid- 
ing power. 



CHAPTER X. 



POLITICAL EVENTS. 



How was it possible for these bold measures of 
reform to be prosecuted in a land governed by 
a Roman Catholic Emperor and the Pope ? The 
question requires us to glance at the course of 
political events. 

Upon the death of Leo X., in December, 1521, 
the papal dignity was conferred upon Adrian, 
who, having been the religious instructor of the 
Emperor, might be expected to find in the latter 
a willing tool in the enforcement of extreme 
measures against the new heresy. The legate of 
the new Pope, appearing at the Diet of Nurem- 
berg in 1522. demanded the strict enforcement of 
the Edict of Worms, denouncing Luther as worse 
than Mohammed. He urged the immediate 
arrest of the beloved pastor, Osiander, and the 
other evangelical preachers of Nuremberg. The 
bold denunciation of this proposition by the en- 
raged citizens and their determination to protect 
their pastors at all hazards revealed to the 
assembled princes the temper of the people at 
large, and the affrighted legate, laying aside his 
haughty air, began to pose as a " martyr ' ' in the 
midst of a persecuting rabble. Although the 
majority of the Diet were zealous adherents of the 
established order, they " feared the people' 7 and 
had, moreover, various grievances of their own 
which they were anxious to have publicly dis- 
cussed. They therefore finally agreed that the 
Lutheran errors could be exterminated onlv by a 
(131) 



132 LUTHER, THE REFORMER. 

general council held on German soil, in which 
every one should be enjoined to speak out what 
he believed to be " divine and Gospel truth." 
This official declaration, made within eighteen 
months after the condemnation at Worms, was a 
notable testimony to the progress of Luther's 
cause. 

When the Diet re-assembled at Nurem- 
berg, in 1524, the evangelical preachers of the 
city had become bolder, and administered the 
communion in both elements to thousands of per- 
sons, conspicuous among the throng being the 
Queen of Denmark, a sister of the Emperor and 
Ferdinand. The Pope, through his legate, again 
demanded the execution of the Edict of Worms, 
but was obliged to be content with the assurance 
that it should be executed Q c as far as possible. ' ? 
Arrangements were then boldly made for a " gen- 
eral assembly of the German nation," to be held 
at Spires in the autumn of the same year. This 
compromise satisfied no one. Luther at once 
published the edict with annotations, denouncing 
in scathing terms the inconsistency of first sanc- 
tioning his condemnation and then arranging for 
an examination of his teachings. The Pope bit- 
terly complained of the presumption of the Ger- 
mans in calling a council without his advice, 
while the Emperor declared the edict void and 
prohibited the proposed gathering. Thus per- 
ished the last hope of the peaceful organization of 
Germany as a political power. 

In July, 1524, under the leadership of the 
papal legate, Campeggio, a partisan league of 
Catholic princes was formed at Ratisbon, in 
which the confederates resolved that not the 
slightest deviation from the prescribed order of 
worship should be tolerated in their domains, and 



POLITICAL EVENTS. 133 

pledged their united efforts for the utter extinction 
of the Lutheran heresy. Both Pope and Emperor 
cordially approved this action, which must of 
course compel the organization of the evangelical 
princes in self-defence. 

Philip, the energetic young Margrave of Hesse, 
having been won for the cause of the Reformation 
largely through a conversation with Melanchthon 
at an accidental meeting upon a journey, formed 
an alliance with the Elector of Saxony at Gotha 
in February, 1525, which was joined by other 
princes at Magdeburg in the following June, and 
became the basis of a formal league of all the 
Evangelical Estates, including the large cities, 
concluded at Torgau in February, 1526. 

Thus, by the action of the papal party, the 
nation had been divided into two distinctly 
hostile camps when the Diet assembled at Spires 
in June, 1526. It was now no longer Luther 
who was to be subdued, but a valiant band of 
princes, supported by the foremost cities of the 
realm, and resolved under no circumstances to 
surrender their Gospel liberty and bow their 
necks again beneath the yoke of papal bondage. 
The church question took precedence of all others. 
It appeared, for a time, as though an understand- 
ing might be reached by which both parties should 
be tolerated until the summoning of the general 
council which the Pope and Emperor had so often 
agreed to call. Just upon the eve of the adoption 
of such an agreement, the presiding officer, Ferd- 
inand, produced an imperial letter of instructions, 
bearing date of March 27th, which strictly forbade 
any action in regard to the Edict of Worms or 
any decision of pending church questions. This 
was rightly interpreted as indicating the purpose 
of the Emperor to enforce the long-despised edict 



134 LUTHER, THE REFORMER. 

without further parley; but the princes shrewdly 
suspected that the course of more recent events 
might have already weakened the imperial reso- 
lution. The letter was written, they observed, 
under the stimulus of the Peace of Madrid, when 
the King of France was a prisoner in the hands 
of the Emperor, and the latter was upon cordial 
terms with the Pope. Since then, the wheel of 
political fortune had reversed the situation. The 
released King of France and the Pope were now 
in league against the Emperor, who might 
urgently need the good-will of all his German 
subjects. It was therefore formally decreed that, 
until the calling of the council, every one should 
" so act in matters relating to the Edict of Worms 
as to be able to render an account to God and 
the Emperor." As anticipated, the Emperor was 
too largely occupied with his wider political com- 
plications to assert his power in Germany, and 
for the next three years the work of instruction 
and organization proceeded unhindered under the 
protection of the broad Edict of Toleration. 
Meanwhile, the drift of public sentiment was 
steadily in the direction of evangelical liberty, and 
the hearts of the Reformers were cheered by many 
notable advances. Albert of Brandenburg, the 
Grand Master of the famous German Order, under 
the advice of Luther, transformed his dominions 
into a secular duchy, severed all relations with the 
papacy, and made provision for the regular 
preaching of the pure Gospel, thus laying the 
foundation of the powerful Protestant state of 
Prussia. One by one, the cities of Lower Ger- 
many fell into line, and their church life was 
organized in many cases by personal friends of 
Luther, while the hymns of the latter on the lips 
of the people bore down before them all opposition. 



CHAPTER XL 



PERSONAL AFFLICTIONS. 



The years 1526 and 1527 cover a period of pe- 
culiar trial for the Reformer. He suffered from 
a number of physical ailments, some of which 
were accompanied with excruciating pain, others 
with -fulness and ringing sounds in the head, 
tightness upon the chest and fainting. These at- 
tacks now* became more frequent and serious, 
being usually preceded by seasons of great spir- 
itual depression, which he himself regarded as 
direct assaults of the devil, and in which he de- 
clared that he experienced the very tortures of 
hell. At such times, he would summon his 
friends to comfort him, and receive absolution at 
the hands of his pastor. With the actual out- 
break of the physical symptoms, his inward agony 
gave place to calm and triumphant faith. 

In July, 1527, after a severe attack of his mal- 
ady, he felt convinced that his end was at hand. 
To his friends he then expressed himself as ready 
to obey the Master's summons, although he 
would gladly remain to help them fight the Lord's 
battles against the Fanatics. He acknowledged 
that he had often written harshly, but insisted 
that he had done so only to terrify the blas- 
phemers. " God knows," he declared, "that I 
have wished harm to no one. ' ' More trying still 
to his earnest spirit was the weakness which en- 
sued, incapacitating him for reading or writing, 
and compelling him to lose many precious hours. 

At just about this time, also, the pestilence 
(135) 



136 LUTHER, THE REFORMER. 

broke out at Wittenberg. The University was re- 
moved to Jena, and Luther was urged to accom- 
pany his associates. As pastor of the parish 
church, however, he felt bound to remain, and, 
despite his own weakness, he was, with Bugen- 
hagen, the associate pastor of the village, unre- 
mitting in his attentions to the sick. The wife 
of the burgomaster died almost in his arms. Two 
women in his own home fell sick with the disease. 
His wife was helpless, and the care of their infant 
son, Hans, occasioned the greatest anxiety. The 
birth of a daughter (Elizabeth), while welcomed 
with delight as a ray of sunshine amid the dark- 
ness, did not lighten the burden of responsibility 
resting upon the isolated household. ' ' Conflict 
without and terrors at home, thus does Christ try 
us," he exclaimed, " but one comfort remains, 
w T ith which we can oppose the raging Satan — we 
have the Word for the salvation of the souls of 
them that believe, even though he devours their 
bodies." Under these circumstances, he rejoiced 
greatly when Bugenhagen, whose house had be- 
come infected, moved with his family into the 
monastery. Several children, also, whose parents 
had fallen victims to the scourge, here found a 
refuge. 

It appears to have been amid these trying 
scenes that the indomitable faith of Luther in- 
spired the noblest of his poetic productions, the 
great Battle-hymn of the Reformation : U A 
Mighty Fortress is our God." Although based 
upon Psalm xlvi, it is by no means a mere repro- 
duction of the inspired original, but rather a 
spontaneous outburst of the deepest feelings of 
Luther himself, like him in its rugged simplicity 
of diction — like him in its bold defiance of all the 
powers of evil and in its joyous confidence in the 
final victory of the " Lord God of Hosts." 



CHAPTER XII. 

THE SACRAMENTAL CONTROVERSY. 

Scarcely had the Reformation begun to assert 
its power as a great popular movement, when 
there arose a controversy in the ranks of its ad- 
herents which diverted the attention of many 
from the great fundamental questions at issue and 
wrought untold injury to the cause. Strangely 
enough, the Holy Supper, instituted by our 
Lord as a bond of union among believers, became 
the occasion of dissensions which alienated the 
leaders of the evangelical movement in that day 
and have ever since divided the great Protestant 
host. This sad fact can be understood only in 
the light of preceding history. 

The Roman Catholic Church had taught the 
doctrine of transubstantiation, that is, that in 
the act of consecration b}^ the priest the bread 
used in the Lord's Supper is transformed into the 
veritable flesh of the Saviour's body, and the 
wine into His blood. The sacred wafer, or 
"host," was then "elevated" for adoration and 
offered to God anew in sacrifice by the priest. 
This ''sacrifice of the mass" was supposed to 
be especially acceptable to God, securing from 
Him remission of sins for those in whose behalf 
the sacrifice was made. The celebration of the 
Lord's Supper thus became a "good work," or 
means of gaining the divine favor. It did not 
require the participation, nor even the presence, 
of the persons to be benefited. The agency of the 
priest alone was necessarv, and this could be se- 
(137) 



138 LUTHER, THE REFORMER. 

cured — for the living or for the dead, for a term 
of years or "in perpetuo " — by the donation of 
money to the coffers of the Church. In connec- 
tion with every cathedral or monastery there 
were shrines at which private masses were said, 
and the endowment of these was a fruitful source 
of the Church's revenue. 

In this i i idolatry of the mass ' ' was concen- 
trated the whole perverted development of the 
papal church. Here was the citadel of the 
enemy — the stronghold of the system of salva- 
tion by works. If salvation by faith was to be 
maintained, the Reformers must present some 
radically different view of the Lord's Supper. 
They are not responsible, therefore, for making 
the sacred ordinance a subject of strife. It had 
been bound in a worse than u Babylonian captiv- 
ity," and they were compelled to address them- 
selves to the task of freeing it from its fetters of 
human tradition. 

Beneath the flagrant error and abuse lay, how- 
ever, a great truth, i. e. , the presence of the 
Lord Himself in the Holy Supper. How was 
this presence to be conceived ? 

Luther at first accepted without questioning the 
traditional theory of transubstantiation. He very 
soon, however, following a hint received from the 
writings of D'Ailly, realized that there is no ne- 
cessity for imagining a miraculous transformation 
of the elements, nor for discrediting the testimony 
of our own senses, which so clearly attest that the 
bread and wine remain unchanged. The Lord's 
body is a spiritual body, and could be present 
just as well unseen with the earthly elements 
as He can be present everywhere when and as He 
will. This conception seemed to Luther to meet 
all the requirements of the scriptural language 



THE SACRAMENTAL CONTROVERSY. 139 

concerning the ordinance, and, at the same time, 
to explain the importance attached to it by the 
Saviour and its acknowledged power to comfort 
and strengthen the humble communicant. From 
this simple conception he never afterwards wav- 
ered. To maintain it intact was his sole object in 
the wearisome controversies which ensued. 

But this explanation of the sacred ordinance, so 
satisfying to the child-like faith and deep mysti- 
cal nature of Luther, was not to stand unchal- 
lenged. Already in the summer of 1522, a letter 
was addressed to Luther by a theologian of Hol- 
land, named Honius, arguing that the words used 
by Christ in instituting the Supper are to be in- 
terpreted figuratively and do not at all imply His 
bodily presence. The views of the Bohemian 
Brethren were also called to his attention as lack- 
ing in clearness and strongly inclining to a rejec- 
tion of important aspects of this doctrine. Carl- 
stadt and his fanatical associates went much 
farther. When not despising the sacrament alto- 
gether, they regarded it as simply a memorial 
meal, whose chief advantage lay in the rapt con- 
templation of Christ upon the part of the recip- 
ient. To some, it was merely an opportunity for 
a renewal of their profession of faith, or a badge 
of loyalty. To the most radical, it was a mere 
ceremony, utterly needless in the case of those 
who had attained to real spiritual life, and who 
could commune with God directly without the in- 
tervention of any outward means. 

Against these views, Luther maintained that 
God deals with us only through special external 
means of His own appointment; that the Lord's 
Supper is a transaction in which God bestows a 
gift and man is merely the recipient; that the gift 
bestowed is the forgiveness of sins and a share in 



140 LUTHER, THE REFORMER. 

the fellowship of Christ and His saints; that the 
body of Christ is truly given as a seal and pledge 
of the imparted spiritual blessing. He would 
have men ' ' directly and implicitly believe that in 
the sacrament of the altar the body and blood of 
Christ are truly present, and that we should not 
inquire further how or in what form they are pres- 
ent, since Christ has not told us especially any- 
thing about that. ' ' Had this counsel been gener- 
ally heeded, what interminable controversies 
would have been avoided, and how different would 
have been the history of the Protestant church! 

But when Carlstadt began to publish flippant 
misinterpretations of the words of institution, to 
ridicule the consecration of the elements, and deny 
that the celebration of the Supper had any rela- 
tion to the forgiveness of sins, the indignation of 
Luther was stirred, and he denounced in vigorous 
terms the ignorant horde who, in their blind zeal, 
sought to exclude the Lord from His own ordi- 
nance. 

In the year 1524, word was brought to Luther 
that Zwingli, the Swiss Reformer, had adopted 
Carlstadt's view. About the same time, CEco- 
lampadius, a former pupil and warm friend of 
Luther, now preaching in Strassburg, and Martin 
Bucer, also a firm friend of the Reformation, an- 
nounced that they no longer believed in the bodily 
presence of the Lord in the Holy Supper. They 
quoted against it irrelevant passages, such as i ' the 
flesh proflteth nothing, ' ' and argued that the body 
of Christ could not be in so many places at one 
time, nor could it be anywhere on earth, since it 
has ascended visibly to Heaven. 

These scholarly assaults compelled Luther to 
undertake an exhaustive study of the subject. 
With keenest logic, he sought to meet every criti- 



THE SACRAMENTAL CONTROVERSY. 141 

cism and carefully developed his own view. He 
endeavored to show how Christ's body could, by 
sharing in the attributes of the divine nature, be 
present in heaven and also, at the same time, at 
many places upon earth, and stoutly maintained 
that, whether his particular theory be accepted or 
not, all Christians are by the simple language of 
Christ bound to recognize that, in some way, His 
body is present and distributed wherever the sac- 
rament is properly administered. His interest 
deepened as the strife proceeded, and he became 
thoroughly convinced that the views of his op- 
ponents sprang from an exaltation of reason above 
the simple divine Word, and that they were in 
conflict with the fundamental doctrine of the in- 
separable union of the human and divine natures 
in the person of Christ. 

He was the more ready to condemn the views 
of his distinguished antagonists since he had pre- 
viously met them, supported largely by the very 
same arguments, in connection with the fanatical 
vagaries of Carlstadt and Miinzer. He regarded 
the entire movement as essentially one — a fresh 
outbreak of the very tendencies which he had so 
earnestly combated in the Roman Catholic 
church, transforming an ordinance of God's free 
grace into a work of human merit; The sacra- 
ment of the Lord's Supper seemed to him, as be- 
fore, the point upon which all the new forms of 
error converged, and he boldly met the issue by 
planting himself firmly here, and treating all 
who varied essentially from what he conceived to 
be the scriptural basis of this doctrine as alike the 
enemies of Christ and of His church. 



CHAPTER XIII. 



LUTHER AND ZWINGLI. 



Side by side with the advance of evangelical 
principles in Germany was progressing during 
these years a great reformatory movement in 
Switzerland, under the leadership of Ulrich 
Zwingli. The latter was a man in temperament 
and training the very opposite of Luther. His 
parents were in comfortable circumstances, and 
he enjoyed the benefits of a thorough classical 
training at Basel, Berne and Vienna. Having 
completed his theological course, he at the age of 
twenty-two became pastor at Glarus, in Switzer- 
land, where he diligently prosecuted his studies 
iii the Scriptures. He took an active part in pub- 
lic affairs and twice accompanied the men of his 
village upon military campaigns. The experience 
thus gained led him to protest with patriotic 
ardor against the mercenary employment of his 
countrymen in the service of foreign princes, a 
custom which, mainly through his influence, was 
abolished in the canton of Zurich. In 1516, he 
removed to Binsiedlein, a famous centre of Rom- 
ish pilgrimages, where he attracted much atten- 
tion by boldly assailing the superstitious worship 
of the Virgin Mary. When, in 1518, the venders 
of indulgences appeared in his neighborhood, he 
exposed their iniquities with equal zeal. Trans- 
ferred in 1519 to Zurich, he continued to preach 
with energy against the abuses in the Church. 
Fasting, enforced celibacy, and the withholding 
of the cup from the laitv, became in turn the ob- 
(142) 



LUTHER AND ZWINGLI. 143 

jects of his attack. His fiery eloquence, aided by 
a free distribution of Luther's writings, carried ail 
before it, and in 1524 the canton of Zurich re- 
nounced its allegiance to Rome and re-organized 
the church within its bounds in accordance with 
Zwingli's ideas. Other cities followed suit, the 
legal civil authorities in each case formally declar- 
ing in favor of the Reformation and assuming the 
direction of all religious affairs. Thus the move- 
ment in Switzerland was chiefly concerned in the 
abolition of external abuses and bore from the 
first a marked political character. It was the aim 
of Zwingli, further, to reject everything not ex- 
pressly commanded by the Word of God, and 
thus break away as completely as possible from 
the established religious customs; whereas Luther 
advocated the retention of whatever was harmless, 
and laid all the stress of his ministry by voice and 
pen upon the underlying doctrines of repentance 
and faith. 

It was in connection with the doctrine of the 
Lord's Supper that the difference between the 
two movements was to find its culmination. 
Luther, whose deep spiritual nature lived and 
moved in the realm of divine mysteries, found no 
difficulty in conceiving of the bodily presence of 
the Lord with the earthly elements of the commun- 
ion. Zwingli's practical mind, on the contrary, 
welcomed the theory which removes all mystery 
and makes the sacred meal but a memorial celebra- 
tion. The conception was more congenial, also, to 
the restless superficial spirit of the martial cantons 
of the Swiss and to the minds of self-complacent 
Humanists. It found ready acceptance in South- 
western Germany among the pupils of Eras- 
mus, who were then very widely scattered and 
influential. It was proclaimed as the reasonable, 



144 LUTHER, THE REFORMER. 

advanced view, whereas Luther was supposed to 
be in this, as in his treatment of other external 
ceremonies, but half-awakened from his popish 
dreams. 

The unseemly strife between brethren grew 
more bitter as the, years rolled on. The argu- 
ments of Zwingli appeared to Luther, by severing 
the two natures of Christ, to rob His atoning 
work of its efficacy and thus destroy the very basis 
of the Gospel. His suspicions were confirmed 
when he found Zwingli wavering upon the doc- 
trine of original sin, and so exalting the virtues 
of the heathen as to apparently deny altogether 
the necessity of the atonement. He failed to note 
in the w T ritings of the latter any evidence of that 
deep sense of personal guilt which lay at the very 
foundation of his own experience and which even 
yet at times so entirely overpowered him. When, 
in addition, he observed Zwingli' s constant exal- 
tation of the spiritual, as entirely apart from all 
relation to outward ordinances, and found him 
teaching a direct influence of the Holy Spirit, in- 
dependent of the divine Word, and looking to 
political schemes for the furtherance of the Gospel, 
he became more than ever convinced that the 
spirit of the latter was identical with that of the 
Fanatics and would eventually lead to the same 
excesses. He, therefore, waged a relentless and 
undiscriminating warfare against the ' ' Sacramen- 
tarians, ' ' who, upon their part, led by Zwingli and 
OEcolampadius, never wearied of ridiculing the 
superstition of the ' c Bible-tyrants ' ' at Wittenberg. 

None lamented the strife more sincerely than 
Luther. He declared that " the gates of hell, the 
entire papacy, the Turks, the world, the flesh and 
all the powers of evil, could not have wrought such 
injury," and that he would gladly lay down his 



LUTHER AND ZWINGLI. 145 

life many times over to restore harmony; "but," 
he added: "the Word is too strong: it holds me 
captive." In March. 1528, he published an ex- 
haustive treatise, entitled: "Confession upon 
the Lord's Supper. M. Luther." This he 
designed to be his final utterance upon the sub- 
ject, and in it he warns all the world to abandon 
the idea that he can ever be induced to depart 
from the positions here maintained. Should he 
do so, he begs posterity to attribute the wavering 
to bodily or mental infirmity, and still regard this 
treatise as the expression of his immovable con- 
viction. To the further replies of Zwingli and 
others, he paid no attention. He had borne his 
testimony, and could do no more. 
10 



CHAPTER XIV. 



THE BKAVE PROTEST. 



While this bloodless conflict was being waged 
between the opposing champions within the ranks 
of those who had escaped from the dominion of 
papal errors, their common enemy was not idle. 
Bavaria had furnished a number of martyrs to the 
cause of the Reformation, among them Leonard 
Kaiser, a personal acquaintance of Luther's. 
The latter published a graphic account of Kaiser's 
arrest while on a visit to his dying father and of 
his cruel death at the stake, praying that God 
might enable him, when his hour should come, to 
meet death with but half the fortitude of his 
heroic friend. Under a new wave of persecuting 
zeal, a number of evangelical preachers w T ere 
driven out of Austria. Paul Winkler, a pastor 
in Halle, summoned to Aschaffenburg to answer 
for having administered the communion in both 
forms, was assassinated upon the homeward jour- 
ney. His death was extolled by Luther as pecu- 
liarly glorious, because encountered while in obe- 
dience to the lawful authority and in defence of 
the doctrine of the Lord's Supper. 

Upon the other hand, the Reformation had 
made notable conquests. Margrave George, of 
Frankfurt-Brandenburg, in 1527, re-organized the 
church upon his territory under the direction of 
ministers furnished by Luther, and became a 
zealous adherent of the cause. Brunswick, Ham- 
burg, Goslar, Lubeck and Goettingen openly 
espoused the truth. 

(146) 



THE BRAVE PROTEST. 147 

But the Emperor had meanwhile again resolved 
upon aggressive measures. Having captured Rome 
and made the Pope a prisoner, he had concluded 
terms with the latter embracing a pledge of strin- 
gent regulations against the Lutheran heresy. The 
Diet assembled at Spires on February 21st, 
1529, was called upon to face a stern imperial 
mandate, requiring the abrogation of the edict of 
toleration issued three years before, and express- 
ing in no measured terms the displeasure of the 
monarch at the spread of the revolutionary doc- 
trines. The Romish party at the Diet, encour- 
aged by this assurance of the Emperor's support, 
and being in the majority, resolved that, in sec- 
tions in which the Edict of Worms had hitherto 
been honored, its requirements should still be 
carried out, while in other places no further in- 
novatiorivS should be made until the meeting of a 
general council. Doctrines and sects wdiich deny 
the presence of the true body and blood of Christ 
in the sacrament were not to be tolerated in the 
kingdom. No ruler was to give shelter to religious 
fugitives from a neighboring territory. 

Thus, while the Diet did not undertake to re- 
store the old order of things where already aban- 
doned, it pledged its authority to prevent the 
spread of the new principles, and to perform police 
service for the persecuting princes in the restora- 
tion of such as might escape from their grasp. 
It was, further, very broadly hinted that severer 
measures would ere long be adopted. 

The evangelical members of the Diet could not 
be thus terrified into submission. To yield now 
would be to surrender all that had been w r on by 
the arduous toil of years. Only one question 
divided their counsels for a time. Should the 
followers of Luther make common cause with 



148 LUTHER, THE REFORMER. 

the Zwinglians, who, according to the resolution 
aimed solely at them, were to be driven from the 
kingdom? The Landgrave Philip pleaded for 
their recognition, while the Elector John was in 
doubt. The question was referred to Melanch- 
thon, and upon his advice it was decided to in- 
clude these in any defensive measures which 
might be adopted. 

On the 19th of April, John of Saxony, Philip 
of Hesse, Margrave George of Brandenberg, Duke 
Ernest of Liineberg, Prince Wolfgang of Anhalt, 
and fourteen imperial cities presented a solemn 
protest against the action of the majority. They 
declared that, in matters which concern the honor 
of God and the salvation of souls, they were com- 
pelled by conscience to regard the will of God 
above all else, and hence could not agree to carry 
out the resolutions of the Diet. They further 
maintained that in such matters every one must 
give account of himself directly to God, and that 
no one can excuse himself by appealing to the 
decisions of a majority. The Zwinglians, they 
contended, should not be condemned without a 
hearing, nor any such violent measures adopted 
against them until a council should have pro- 
nounced judgment upon their teachings. The 
signers of this document were spoken of as the 
66 Protestants," and their bold, honest course has 
been immortalized in the adoption of this term as 
the distinctive designation of the modern Christian 
Church of the western world outside of the Roman 
Catholic communion. That which has excited 
the admiration of posterity is not merely the cour- 
age with which this little band stood up against 
superior numbers and against the Emperor, now 
flushed with victory, but the ground upon which 
their action was based, i. e., the clear enunciation 



THE BRAVE PROTEST. 149 

of the sacred rights of conscience, as against 
the domination of majorities or the mandates of 
tyranny. In this it but gave formal and united 
utterance to the principles which the Monk of 
Wittenberg had boldly proclaimed eight years be- 
fore. 

Three days later, the Elector John, the Land- 
grave Philip and the representatives of the cities 
of Nuremberg, Ulm and Strassburg pledged 
united resistance against any power which 
should attack either of the confederates upon the 
ground of adherence to the Gospel. 

It is worthy of remark, that Luther failed to 
recognize either the genuine heroism or the far- 
reaching significance of the great protest. The 
rejection of the imperial demands appeared to him 
as merely the discharge of a plain, unavoidable 
duty, and with its performance he would have had 
the adherents of the Gospel rest content. The 
subsequent organization of the princes and cities 
for defence alarmed him. He could not be per- 
suaded that the danger was so imminent as to re- 
quire this, and it appeared to him to imply dis- 
trust in the divine power. Had not God wonder- 
fully protected them hitherto without any human 
aid ? "Were it not far better to confide in Him 
now than to lean upon an arm of flesh? He 
greatly feared, further, that the cause of truth 
would suffer by alliance with the Reformers whose 
views were at such variance with his own. 
Melanehthon, too, became very uneasy, and re- 
gretted the part which he had taken in encourag- 
ing the " terrible protest." Thus Luther's cour- 
age and the natural timidity of Melanehthon 
combined, in this as in later periods, to discoun- 
tenance political combinations which might 
transfer the conflict from the tribunal of free dis- 
cussion to the arbitrament of arms. 



150 LUTHER, THE REFORMER. 

But the horizon was already dark with threaten- 
ing clouds. The Emperor and the Pope had no 
scruples to restrain them from religious warfare, 
and the Protestants might at any moment be 
called upon to draw arms in self-defence. How 
important then that they be united and prepared 
to act in concert against their common enemy! 
Resistance of such demands as those now made, 
would not, it was claimed, be insurrection. But 
Luther was immovable. He maintained that it 
is the duty of subjects to endure wrong when per- 
petrated by those in lawful authority, and to look 
for deliverance to Him who can control the hearts 
of princes and overrule the trials of His people to 
their own final advantage. But the increasing 
gravity of the situation led to a careful scrutiny of 
this sweeping doctrine of submission, as applied to 
political affairs, and no one could longer doubt 
that, if driven to desperation, the majority of the 
princes would be ready to lift the sword in self- 
defence. 

The most serious difficulty in the way of a 
cordial confederation of all the evangelical forces 
now lay in the doctrinal differences which yet 
divided the great emancipated host. How these 
could be reconciled became the pressing question 
of the hour. 



CHAPTER XV. 

THE MARBURG COLLOQUY. 

In all the political plans of the Protestants, 
Philip of Hesse now held the place of undis- 
puted leadership. His youthful energy, his un- 
flinching courage and his sagacity well fitted him 
for the perilous pre-eminence. He had honestly 
embraced the fundamental teachings of Luther, 
but rather from intellectual conviction than from 
deep religious motives; yet he was willing to main- 
tain his convictions at all hazards. None realized 
more clearly than he the serious dangers now 
threatening, and he was untiring in his efforts to 
unite all the anti-papal elements. It seemed to 
him an incredible infatuation that such a union 
should be prevented by a mere doctrinal dispute 
among the theologians, and he cast about for 
means of overcoming this needless obstacle. 
Already before the Diet of Spires he had declared 
that there must be a conference between Luther 
and CEcolampadius, if it cost him 600 guldens to 
effect it. After the lines had there been so deeply 
drawn between the two great parties, the necessity 
of harmony among the friends of the Reformation 
became still more evident, and Philip at once 
cautiously addressed himself to the task of bring- 
ing the warring theologians face to face. 

The Wittenberg men had no sympathy what- 
ever with the movement, and sought in every hon- 
orable way to avoid a meeting which they felt 
could accomplish nothing more than further alien- 
ation. But they could not resist the urgency of 
(151) 



152 LUTHER, THE REFORMER. 

the Landgrave and the wishes of their own 
prince, who felt that the refusal of a request so 
seemingly reasonable would certainly be misin- 
terpreted. 

Zwingli, on the contrary, was rilled with de- 
light upon receiving the invitation. Having suc- 
ceeded in extending his influence in Switzerland, 
he had conceived the idea of forming a great in- 
ternational confederacy to resist the Emperor's 
encroachments. He had even made propositions 
of alliance with the King of France on the east 
and Vienna on the west, ignoring thus the most 
extreme religious differences for the accomplish- 
ment of his political dream. If the proposed con- 
ference should achieve no more, it would at least 
enable him to gain the sympathy of Philip, and 
with it the support of all Southern and Western 
Germany. History accords to Zwingli a genuine 
religious zeal, but for him religion and politics 
were one, and his patriotism and piety were now 
alike aflame with the idea of grasping the golden 
opportunity to throw off the yoke of mediaeval 
bondage. 

Fearing opposition to the project upon the part 
of his friends, the Swiss reformer slipped away 
from Zurich secretly on September 1st, He spent 
twelve days at Strassburg seeking to advance his 
cause, and, arriving early at Marburg, the place of 
meeting, secured an audience with the Landgrave 
before the arrival of Luther with his party. On 
Friday, October 1st, by a prudent arrangement of 
Philip, Luther was closeted for three hours w T ith 
QEcolampadius, while in another room Zwingli 
and Melanchthon compared views. 

On the following day, the formal discussion 
began. It was, according to the official instruc- 
tions, to be an u outspoken, friendly and undis- 



THE MARBURG COLLOQUY. 153 

putatious conversation. ' ' A number of theologians 
and scholars were present, and the Landgrave 
himself followed the discussion with unflagging 
interest. Directly before the latter, at a separate 
table, were seated Luther, Zwingli, Melanchthon 
and (Ecolampadius. Luther, who had written 
with chalk upon the table-cover: " Hoc est cor- 
pus meum " (This is my body), opened the col- 
loquy by announcing that he proposed merely to 
maintain the positions which he had assumed in 
his writings, and that, if the opposite party had 
anything to advance against the truth, he was 
ready to hear and refute them. He proposed that 
a wide range be given to the discussion, as he 
understood that the Swiss entertained erroneous 
views upon a number of the most vital subjects, 
such as original sin, the nature of Christ, baptism, 
etc. The latter expressed themselves as willing 
to testify their belief upon these subjects, but 
desired to begin the discussion with the doctrine 
of the Lord's Supper, to which Luther agreed. 

For two days the debate continued, without 
developing any arguments not previously ad- 
vanced. Again and again, Luther pointed to the 
words upon the table, and at length tore off the 
cover and dramatically held it up as the final 
answer to all the objections of his opponents. A 
private meeting of the theologians on the fol- 
lowing morning proved equally fruitless. 

Zwingli and his party then desired that they be 
heard in regard to the other articles of faith to 
which reference had been made, and Luther, upon 
request, at once prepared a statement in fifteen 
brief articles for mutual consideration. They 
covered the leading topics of his own teaching, 
and, to his amazement, were accepted on the same 
day, with a few slight verbal changes, by all the 
theologians present. 



154 LUTHER, THE REFORMER. 

Thus the differences had been narrowed down 
to the one point, i. e., the bodily presence of 
Christ in the Lord's Supper. The Landgrave was 
delighted, and exhorted both parties to toleration 
and the exercise of brotherly love. Zwingli and 
his friends readily agreed to so conduct themselves, 
and proposed that all should consent to acknowl- 
edge one another as brethren, and that each party 
should welcome the other at the Table of the 
Lord. With this proposition, Zwingli extended 
his hand to Luther, but the latter refused to make 
such acknowledgment of fraternity, declaring, as 
he had frequently done during the colloquy, 
u You have a different spirit from ours." 
Zwingli pleaded, even with tears, and, turning to 
the Landgrave, declared: "There are no men in 
the world with whom I would rather be in har- 
mony than with the Wittenbergers. " But in 
vain. Luther was ready to grant to the opposite 
party only such exhibitions of Christian love as 
are due to one's enemies. To the declaration of 
the fifteenth of the adopted articles, acknowledg- 
ing the spiritual presence of the Lord in the Holy 
Supper, was added the statement: " But, although 
we have not agreed at this time whether the true 
body and blood of Christ are bodily in the bread 
and wine, yet each party promises to exercise to- 
ward the other Christian love, in so far as the 
conscience of each will at all allow, and both 
parties earnestly implore God, the Almighty, that 
He may through His Spirit grant us the right 
understanding." The articles were then 
signed by Luther, Melanchthon, Jonas, Osiander, 
Brenz, Agricola, CEcolampadius, Zwingli, Bucer 
and Hedio, and at once given to the press. 

No act of Luther's life has been subjected to 
more diverse comment than his refusal to take 



THE MARBURG COLLOQUY. 155 

the proffered hand of Zwingli at Marburg. In the 
light of our modern ideas of mutual toleration, it 
has the appearance of insufferable bigotry; but a 
candid consideration of the circumstances must 
greatly modify, if it do not entirely reverse, such 
harsh, judgment. Let it be remembered that the 
colloquy was not an unbiased gathering of 
theologians to discuss religious subjects for their 
own sake. It was planned in furtherance of a 
political scheme which Luther did not approve, 
but which his opponents considered vital. The 
desire upon their part for Luther's endorsement 
did not therefore spring from pure Christian love. 
Again, the point at issue was not a vital one in 
the judgment of the Swiss, while to Luther it ap- 
peared to involve the very foundations of the 
Christian faith. The denial of it seemed to him 
to indicate contempt for the plain language of the 
Scriptures, the rejection of the divinity of Christ 
and a profanation of His most sacred ordinance, 
as well as to open the door for all manner of god- 
less fanaticism. Xor did the assent of these men 
to the other articles satisfy him. His astonish- 
ment was mingled with deep suspicions, as he 
knew how strongly political considerations 
prompted them to seek at least apparent harmony. 
L^pon the one point which had for years been 
made the test-question between the diverse ten- 
dencies, and in view of which alone the conference 
had been called, not the slightest approximation 
to harmony had been made. 

Should Luther now allow the report to go 
abroad, that he had at the critical moment com- 
promised with the enemy ? Should he thus cast 
the weight of his influence in favor of what he 
believed to be an unholy alliance which would 
deluge the land in blood and incur the wrath of 



156 LUTHER, THE REFORMER. 

the Almighty ? No! he would not allow his name 
to be thus misused. He would make no com- 
promise with error, even under the guise of 
charity. He whom the threats of an Emperor 
could not terrify was 'not to be subdued by the 
tears of a disappointed politician. He was im- 
movable — as ever, true to his convictions. 

That those who bear the name of Luther to-day 
should be led by his example upon this critical 
occasion to permanently refuse fellowship at 
the Lord's Table with all who do not accept in 
full the strictest Lutheran view of the sacred ordi- 
nance, can be consistently maintained only upon 
the supposition that the persons thus excluded 
really occupy the position attributed to Zwingli 
and his followers, i. e., that they are insincere in 
their professions of piety, despisers of God's 
Word, inspired by Satan in their stubborn oppo- 
sition to the truth. Luther' s denial of altar fellow- 
ship was no mere protest against the error of an 
acknowledged Christian brother: it was an indig- 
nant rejection of all fellowship with those whom 
he conceived to be the most dangerous enemies 
of Christ. He is a bold partisan who would to- 
day ascribe such a character to all professing 
Christians without the bounds of our own Luth- 
eran church. 



CHAPTER XVI. 

PREPARING TO MEET THE EMPEROR. 

The colloquy at Marburg rendered a permanent 
service in leading to the preparation of a concise 
statement of the chief points of evangelical doc- 
trine. Prepared in haste, within at most a few 
hours, by the master hand of Luther, this brief 
formula proved the living germ from which was 
developed the remarkable confessional literature 
of the sixteenth century, which has moulded the 
entire subsequent history of the Protestant church. 

Before leaving Marburg, Luther and his associ- 
ates received instructions from the Elector to pre- 
pare a statement of the articles of faith which 
might serve as a bond of union for the Protestant 
League, a meeting of which was to be held at 
Schwabach on October 16th. To meet this re- 
quirement, Luther simply recast the Marburg 
Articles. The latter had been prepared with a 
view of securing as far as possible the assent of 
the Swiss theologians. Xo longer restrained by 
such considerations, Luther now expressed more 
positively his own convictions, especially upon 
the subject of the Lord's Supper. He inserted 
also an article setting forth the Church as the 
general fellowship of believers, in contradistinction 
from the hierarchical view of the Romanists — a 
doctrinal position which has maintained its place 
substantially in all the great Protestant confes- 
sions. The seventeen articles thus originated, after- 
wards known as the " Schwabach Articles," 
were acceptable to the Saxon court, but, on ac- 
(157) 



158 LUTHER, THE REFORMER. 

count of their stricter tone, proved unsatisfactory 
to the South German delegates at the convention, 
and action upon them was postponed. They 
failed of acceptance also, for the same reason, at 
a larger convention held at Smalcald, on Novem- 
ber 29th; but, while rejected by those who in- 
clined to Zwinglian views, they were influential 
in strengthening the convictions of those who 
still followed the leadership of Saxony. 

As Luther returned to Wittenberg, all eyes 
were turned in a new direction. The Sultan 
Soiiman was storming Vienna. The imaginary 
war with the Turks, for which the Pope had so 
often collected large sums in Germany, had be- 
come a reality, and the land was filled with terror. 
Luther, who had in his earlier writings ridiculed 
the insincere outcries of the papal emissaries, and 
who might have foreseen advantage for his own 
cause in this new embarrassment of the Emperor, 
now proved his patriotism by publishing a 
u Martial Sermon against the Turks, " sum- 
moning his countrymen as Germans, regardless of 
their religious differences, to respond to the call of 
the Emperor and defend their firesides from the 
barbarous foe.. The Landgrave Philip proposed 
that no aid be given to the Emperor against the 
Turks unless he should first guarantee religious 
peace to his subjects in Germany; but Luther 
was unwilling to enter into any negotiations of 
this character, maintaining that the support of 
the lawful authority of the land is a simple duty 
which must be discharged at all hazards. He 
sought to overcome any scruples which might be 
entertained against warfare under such circum- 
stances, although it might be just as clearly a 
duty to disobey the Emperor should he summon 
his subjects to war against the Gospel. Soiiman 



PREPARING TO MEET THE EMPEROR. 159 

was defeated, and the threatening peril for the 
time being averted. 

On February 24th, the Emperor was crowned 
by the Pope at Bologna, and at once announced 
his purpose of visiting Germany in person. A 
Diet was summoned to meet at Augsburg on the 
8th of April, professedly to ' ' heal the divisions in 
the Church, committing the errors of the past to 
the judgment of the Lord, and, after patiently 
hearing the opinions of all parties in the spirit of 
love and forbearance, to arrive at harmonious 
views of Christian truth. " The Elector John, 
upon receiving the imperial notice on March 11th, 
immediately instructed Luther, Jonas, Bugen- 
hagen and Melanchthon to prepare a statement 
of the points in controversy for the use of himself 
and his friends at the Diet. The result of their 
labors in response to this call, handed to the 
Elector ten days later, is known to history as the 
"Torgau Articles." 

The Elector and his counselors, realizing what 
a wide field of discussion would be opened up if 
the terms of the official summons were observed 
at Augsburg, and resolving to be prepared for 
every possible emergency, gathered in advance 
all books and papers within their reach throwing 
light upon the religious questions at issue or upon 
the mutual relations of the Emperor and the es- 
tates of the realm. Three chests were required to 
carry these valuable documents. 

In April, Luther, Melanchthon and Jonas 
journeyed with the electoral retinue as far as 
Coburg, near the border of Saxony, where the 
Reformer was to find a secure refuge in the castle. 
It was his desire, and that of his prince as well, 
that he should accompany the party to the Diet, 
but, as he was still under the ban of the empire, 



160 LUTHER, THE REFORMER,. 

it was not thought best to so openly defy the au- 
thority of the monarch. Luther naively expressed 
to a friend his suspicion that he was left behind 
because he was known to have a troublesome 
tongue. 






CHAPTER XVII. 



A SECOND IMPRISONMENT. 



Another ride in the night, which must have 
vividly recalled the events of nine years before, 
and Luther found himself again in a ' ' region of 
birds. ' ' The fine old castle on the bank of the 
Itz met every requirement of quiet comfort. 
His friend, Veit Dietrich, and a nephew, Curiacus, 
were commissioned to keep him company, while 
the thirty servants stood ready to do his bidding. 
After surveying the grounds, the prisoner-guest 
spent the atternoon in writing cheerful letters to 
his friends and mapping out a scheme of work for 
the idle hours before him. To Melanchthon he 
wrote : ' ' We have arrived at our Sinai, but we 
will make a Zion out of it. ' ' 

His first concern was for his unfinished labors 
in the translation and expounding of the 
Scriptures. During the five months of his iso- 
lation here he accomplished no little in this direc- 
tion. When his physical ailments incapacitated 
him for severe mental labor, he turned from the 
interpretation of the intricate prophecies of Eze- 
kiel and rested himself by further elucidation of 
the Psalms. He wrote in Latin upon the walls of 
his study the quotations from his beloved Psalter: 
" I shall not die, but live, and declare the works 
of the Lord." " The way of the ungodly shall 
perish. ' ' 

He had long cherished the idea of translating 
the fables of JEsop and publishing them with 
appropriate comments, in order that the children 
11 (161) 



162 LUTHER, THE REFORMER. 

might in this attractive form be taught the duty 
of living ' ' wisely and peaceably among the wicked 
multitude in this false and evil world." He found 
time, however, to thus treat but thirteen of the 
ancient collection. 

For exercise, he amused himself by practicing 
with the cross-bow, and his attendant triumph- 
antly recorded a masterly shot which pierced a 
bat directly through the heart. It was here, as 
always in his warfare, a creature of darkness that 
suffered at his hand. 

He found unfailing delight in listening to the 
twittering of the birds. He describes in detail a 
"Diet of Rooks," assembled in a cluster of 
bushes beneath his window, screaming day and 
night without ceasing, as though they were all 
roaring drunk. Great and mighty lords they 
seemed to him, although he was unable to discern 
the emperor among them. It afforded him great 
amusement to observe with what lordly dignity 
they swung their tails and wiped their bills as 
they broke down the hedges and prepared to gain 
a glorious victory over the grain fields. l ' Success 
to their pilfering," he cries, u and may they all 
together be impaled upon a hedge-pole ! " 

Picking up a stray leaflet with a snatch of an 
old song upon it, set to music of three parts, he 
recast the music, added notes for the fourth voice, 
appended a few doggerel lines to suit the measure, 
and sent it to Augsburg, gravely recommending to 
his friends its publication there as a welcoming 
ode to the Emperor and Ferdinand. 

His letters to the family circle at Wittenberg 
are full of the quaintest humor and unfailing 
good cheer. His power of entering into sympathy 
with the feelings of innocent childhood is strik- 
ingly shown in a letter to his son, Hans, describ- 



A SECOND IMPRISONMENT. 163 

ing a beautiful garden, with all manner of fruits 
and flowers, in which were at play happy little 
children having horses with golden bridles and 
silver saddles. But, of course, there must be a 
moral even to this fairytale, and little Hans is 
plainly warned that the charming place is open 
only to children who are good and who pray and 
study well. A picture of his infant daughter, 
Magdelena, hung above his table in the dining- 
room. 

On January 5th, word was brought of the 
death of his aged father. Deeply moved, he 
grasped his Psalter and hastened to his room to 
weep. He bewailed the death of such a father, 
through whom God had bestowed upon him life 
and all his faculties, and who by hard toil had 
nourished his tender years and supported him at 
the University. He recalled the hours of sweet 
fellowship enjoyed with him in later years, and 
rejoiced that his father had lived to see the light 
of truth, and had died j)eacefully in the faith of 
Christ. While thus finding comfort, he realized 
more keenly than ever the awful power of death, 
and praised God for the grace which enables poor, 
weak men thus to triumph over it. 

But the walls of the Coburg could not confine 
the Reformers thoughts to his personal relations. 
He could not forget the great conflict without. 
Xever was he more confident, more intrepid, more 
conscious of his special calling. Within three 
weeks he had prepared an Address to the Clergy 
at Augsburg, by which he proposed to make 
amends for his bodily absence. He. trenchantly 
reviews the events of the past years; reminds the 
bishops of the service which he has rendered them 
in freeing them from the swarms of monks that 
had, like fleas, infested Christendom: recalls the 



164 LUTHER, THE REFORMER. 

long list of abominations against which he had 
protested, many of which they were in their folly 
still seeking to bolster up; and w r arns them of the 
disorders which must result if they continue to 
dispute the righteous claims of the Gospel and its 
adherents. "You know as well as w T e that you 
are living without the Word of God, whereas we 
have it. It is, therefore, our earnest desire and 
most humble prayer that you may give God the 
glory, consider, repent and reform. If not, then 
you w T ill have to deal with me. Living, I will be 
your pestilence, and dying, I will be your death. 
You will have no rest from my name until you 
either reform your w r ays or perish miserably. " 

Such was Luther's first contribution to the pro- 
posed reconcilation of Christ and Belial at the 
Diet. We shall have occasion to observe how 
potent was his influence in all its deliberations. 
He had, indeed, little hope that the Diet would 
accomplish any real good. He still spoke of the 
Emperor as " the good and pious Charles/' but 
believed him helpless as a lamb surrounded by 
ravening w r olves. His only concern was that the 
representatives of the truth might make a bold 
and fearless profession of their faith. When 
reports of wavering and compromise reached him, 
he became impatient, and sent message after 
message to stimulate the courage of his friends. 
To Melanchthon he wrote : "I hate your fears. 
It is not the greatness of the cause which awakens 
them, but the greatness of our unbelief. If our 
cause is wrong, let us recant ; if it is right, why 
do we make God a liar by doubting His promises ? 
Was it to the wind, or to dumb beasts, that He 
gave the command, ' Cast your care upon the 
Lord?' I adjure you, who are in all else so 
valiant, fight against yourself, your own worst 
enemy. ' ' 



A SECOND IMPRISONMENT. 165 

To Chancelor Briiek, the most hopeful in spirit 
among the little company, he wrote: wi I have 
lately seen two wonderful things. First, as I 
was looking out of my window, I saw the stars in 
the sky and the whole beautiful firmament of 
God ; and yet I saw nowhere any pillar set up by 
the Master to support this firmament. Still, the 
sky did not fall, and the firmament is yet stand- 
ing securely. Now, there are some who look for 
such pillars, and would like to lay hold of them 
and feel them, and because they cannot do this, 
they tremble and go into convulsions, as though 
the sky would now certainly fall, for no other 
reason than because they cannot lay hold upon or 
see the pillars. * * * The other wonder which I 
saw was this : Great, thick clouds were floating 
over us, so heavy that they might be compared to 
a great ocean, and yet I saw no foundation upon 
which they rested or stood, nor any tubs in which 
they were held. Nevertheless, they did not fall 
upon us. but greeted us with a threatening coun- 
tenance and tied away. When they were past, 
there shone out that which held them up, as both 
their support and our roof, the rainbow. * * * 
Yet there are some who, in their fear, look upon 
and regard the thick and heavy weight of waters 
and clouds more than this thin, narrow and light 
shadow. They would like to feel the strength of 
this shadow, and because they cannot do this. 
they are afraid that the clouds will produce an 
everlasting deluge. ' ' 

But this boldness of Luther was maintained 
only by earnest prayer. His associate, Dietrich, 
has recorded that three of the hours most valuable 
for study were daily spent in this exercise. Once, 
by accident, he caught the very language of the 
earnest, bold petitions : "I know that Thou art 



166 LUTHER, THE REFORMER. 

our God and Father. I am certain, therefore, that 
Thou wilt bring to shame the persecutors of Thy 
children. If Thou dost not, the peril is both 
Thine and ours. The whole affair is Thine." 

Several vigorous controversial tracts issued 
from the Coburg. In one of these the subject of 
purgatory is thoroughly treated. Luther, held 
by his traditional conceptions, had long been 
willing to grant the existence of such a place of 
torture, but he now repudiated the idea entirely, 
and with unflinching severity uncovered the 
" shameful lies and abominations" that were 
based upon the doctrine. He elucidated also 
more fully than heretofore, in special publica- 
tions, the sphere of the Church's power and 
its limitations, with special reference to the exist- 
ing state of things. The tone and contents of 
these documents must have effectually allayed 
the fears of any who may have been alarmed by 
Zwingli's charge that Luther was shrinking back 
toward the Roman fold. 

Numerous personal letters of consolation 
may be traced to these fruitful months, as well as 
a careful selection of scriptural passages calcu- 
lated to bring comfort to those in distress, and a 
fervent admonition to all to meekly bear the cross. 
The latter may have been suggested by the arrival 
of a handsome seal-ring presented by the prince, 
John Frederick. The original coat-of-arms of 
the Luther family had been a cross-bow with a 
rose upon each side. The new design, elaborated 
by Luther as an embodiment of his theology, he 
himself thus explains: First, let there be a cross 
in black within a heart of natural color, that I 
may be reminded that faith in the Crucified saves 
us. Although it is a black cross, which crucifies 
and may be expected to give pain, yet it leaves 



A SECOND IMPRISONMENT. 167 

the heart in its own color, does not destroy 
nature, i. e., it does not kill, but preserves alive; 
for the just lives by his faith in the Crucified. 
Let the heart stand in the midst of a white rose, 
to indicate that faith gives joy, comfort and peace. 
Let the rose be white, and not red, for white is 
the color of spirits and all angels. The rose 
stands in a field of celestial color, because such 
joy in the Spirit and in faith is a foretaste of the 
heavenly joy now assured to the believer and to 
be freely revealed hereafter. . Around the field of 
blue let there be a golden circle, to indicate that 
the blessedness of heaven endures forever, and is 
precious beyond all joy and wealth, as gold is the 
noblest and most precious metal. 



CHAPTER XVIII. 



THE GREAT CONFESSION. 



At length the Emperor arrived with great pomp 
at Augsburg. His first order forbade the preach- 
ing of the Protestant party, and required them all 
to join in the procession on the following day, 
which was the festival of Corpus Christi. The 
latter finally agreed to yield the liberty of preach- 
ing for the time being, provided the same restric- 
tion were laid upon their adversaries. In the 
idolatrous procession, however, the Evangelical 
Princes declined to participate, asserting that their 
consciences would not allow them to do so. The 
concession was regarded as a great victory by the 
Romish party, who themselves cared but little for 
the privilege of preaching; but the absence of so 
large and respectable a portion of the Diet from 
the procession was a striking evidence of the wide- 
spread defection from the papal ranks. 

Melanchthon had toiled faithfully in recasting 
the Articles of Smalcald and Torgau. The result 
of his labors, since known to the world as the 
Augsburg Confession, having received the en- 
dorsement of Luther, was signed by the Protest- 
ants on June 23d and presented to the Diet June 
30th. The Emperor desired that it be quietly 
handed to him, but, upon the demand of the sign- 
ers, permission was given for the reading of the 
German copy, a duty which was admirably per- 
formed by the Saxon Chancellor, Briick. 

The document, in the first twenty-one articles, 
presents the leading doctrines of the Scriptures 
(168) 



THE GREAT CONFESSION. 169 

with judicial calmness and dignity, in language of 
transparent simplicity, and then, in seven articles, 
designates the leading abuses against which tes- 
timony had been borne by the Reformers. Luther 
read and re-read the articles, delighted with their 
lucidity and literary finish, declaring that he could 
not have trodden so lightly, yet well satisfied to 
find in them the essentials of the faith. When he 
learned that they had actually been presented to 
the Diet as the unanimous confession of the Evan- 
gelical Estates, his exultation was unbounded. 
He saw in the act a fulfilment of the declaration 
of the Psalmist : "I will speak of thy testimonies 
also before kings, and will not be ashamed, " and 
thanked God that he had lived to see the day. 

The course of history has fully justified his esti- 
mate of the event. The political combinations 
and plans, which to many seemed matters of su- 
preme importance, are now well nigh forgotten, 
but the Augsburg Confession yet stands before 
the world as the vital embodiment of the spirit of 
the Reformation and one of the grandest trophies 
of the Christian ages. In it we find, in perfect 
combination, Luther's prophetic vision of pro- 
foundest spiritual truth and Melanchthon's 
matchless skill in accurate expression. It has 
been practically the model for all subsequent 
Protestant confessions, and, translated into many 
languages, the firm bond of union between all 
branches of the great Lutheran communion. 

The reading of the Confession made a deep im- 
pression upon the assembly. Its principles were 
so largely in accord with the accepted doctrines of 
the Church, so reasonable, and so convincingly 
stated, that prejudices faded away before it, and 
the bitterest enemies were inspired with deep re- 
spect for their antagonists. 



170 LUTHER, THE REFORMER. 

Four cities, led by Strassburg, presented through 
their representatives an independent confession, 
known to history as the Tetrapolitana, and 
Zwingli addressed to the Emperor a statement of 
his own views and those of his immediate associates. 
Of the latter, nothing more was heard, while the 
former attained some importance at a later day as 
an exposition of views intermediate between those 
of Luther and Zwingli. Neither played any further 
part in the proceedings of the Diet. 

The Emperor appointed a commission of lead-, 
ing Romish theologians to prepare a Refutation. 
The result of their labors, after having been 
several times referred back to them as unsatisfac- 
tory, was finally accepted and read to the Diet on 
August 3d as the expression of the Emperor's 
views, in accordance with which he proposed to 
regulate his course in the matter. The request of 
the Reformers for an official copy was refused. 
Three days later, Philip of Hesse, in disgust, left 
the city without imperial permission. 

Various efforts were made to effect a com- 
promise between the opposing parties — a result to 
which the Emperor would have by no means been 
averse. The Romanists, under the direction of 
the papal legate, Campeggio, who was extraordi- 
narily liberal in his own views, made large con- 
cessions upon points of doctrine, while Melanch- 
thon was ready to yield much in the sphere of 
outward observances, even to the extent of recog- 
nizing the jurisdiction of the Roman bishops in 
the temporal affairs of the Church. Weeks of 
tedious negotiations proving utterly fruitless, the 
Emperor on September 17th announced that he 
would labor to secure the calling of a general 
council, but that the Protestants must meanwhile 
conform to all the requirements of the established 



THE GEEAT CONFESSION. 171 

Church. The latter replied, as at Spires, that 
they could not disobey their consciences. 

After further parley, the Emperor on September 
22d declared that the Confession had been re- 
futed and rejected, and that he proposed to 
unite with the Pope and other Christian princes 
in exterminating the troublesome sect that had 
given it birth. The Elector John left Augsburg 
on the following day. Luther joined his retinue 
at Coburg. and, after spending some days with the 
court at Torgau, returned to Wittenberg. He had 
taken no interest in the proceedings following the 
presentation of the Confession, except to examine 
and passionately condemn the various formulas 
of compromise suggested and constantly urge his 
friends to steadfastness in maintaining the truth 
which they had so gloriously confessed. 

The formal edict was promulgated November 
19th. It allowed the Protestants five months for 
reflection, promised earnest effort to secure the 
calling of a council within six months, but for- 
bade in the meanwhile the printing or sale of 
evangelical documents or the making of prose- 
lytes, and demanded the restitution of cloisters, 
submission to the authority of Romish bishops, 
etc. Luther set the example of obedience (?) by 
publishing at once a scathing review of the 
''so-called imperial edict," in the name of the 
truth defying ' ; all emperors, whether Roman, 
Turk or Tartar, Pope, cardinals, bishops, priests, 
princes, lords, and the whole world, with all the 
devils besides." He denounced the apparent 
friendliness of the papal party, as but manifest- 
ing their willingness to sacrifice the very central 
doctrines of their system touching salvation if 
they might but secure their hold upon the bene- 
fices and maintain their scandalous dissipation. 



CHAPTER XIX. 



WAR CLOUDS STAYED. 



The question whether armed resistance of 
the Emperor would under any circumstances be 
justified, now became an intensely practical one. 
Luther still urged the duty of submission to law- 
ful authority at any sacrifice. But when the 
counselors of the Elector pointed out that the 
Emperor's course itself was illegal as he was 
transcending the limits of the authority vested in 
his office by the constitution of the empire under 
which he had been elected, Luther finally with- 
drew his opposition, casting the responsibility of 
deciding the legal questions involved upon the 
jurists, within whose province such matters lay. 
Scruples of consciences being thus allayed, the 
princes were not slow in preparing for the worst. 
At a convention of the Smalcald League, held in 
December, the confederates resolved to resist with 
their united forces any attempt to execute the 
edict of Augsburg. 

Duke Ferdinand was in January, 1531, in 
accordance with the Emperor's desire, but in dis- 
regard of the constitutional rights of the German 
princes, crowned King of the Roman Empire 
of Germany at Cologne — a step calculated to 
greatly facilitate the execution of the Emperor's 
plans on German territory during the prolonged 
absences of the latter. The Evangelical Princes 
were strongly averse to the new arrangement, but 
only the Saxon Elector ventured to enter public 
protest against it. The lines were now firmly 
(172) 



WAR CLOUDS STAYED. 173 

drawn upon both sides, and all looked forward 
with anxiety to the inevitable clash of arnis. 

The cities of Southern Germany were still 
excluded from the confederation of the evangeli- 
cal princes upon doctrinal grounds. Through the 
active mediation of Bucer, they were now induced 
to adopt a new formula, subscribed also by CEco- 
lampadius, in which they approached much more 
nearly to Luther's view of the Lord's Supper. 
This document, though not altogether satisfactory 
to the latter, led him to assume a more tolerant 
attitude, and was regarded by the princes as a 
sufficient concession to entitle its signers to repre- 
sentation in the Smalcald League, which was thus 
greatly strengthened. 

All efforts to prevail upon Zwingli to modify 
the statement of his extreme views proved futile. 
He became, however, more deeply involved in 
the political conflicts of his native land, and 
met a patriot's death upon the field of Cap- 
pel, October 31st, 1531. CBcolampadius died a 
few weeks later, and the influence of Switzerland 
in the doctrinal discussions of Germany rapidly 
waned, while the crushing defeat of Zwingli' s 
plans banished all thought of political combina- 
tions in that quarter. 

Having entered the field of politics, the League 
now embraced the opportunities soon afforded of 
forming strange alliances. The Dukes of Ba- 
varia, although strict Romanists, were exceed- 
ingly jealous of the encroachments of the Emperor 
and stood ready to join the Protestants in resist- 
ing the latter, while the Kings of France and 
England, impelled by similar motives, sent mes- 
sages of encouragement. xlll such movements 
could but increase Luther's instinctive distrust 
of the entire method of political confederation. 



174 

He insisted that the cause of truth would be much 
safer if left simply in the hands of God. 

But the cry for peace now came from the camp 
of the adversary. The Turkish army again in- 
vaded Austria in the spring of 1532, and the 
services of the Smalcald heroes were sorely 
needed by the Emperor. He proposed there- 
fore to grant to the actual members of the League 
immunity from persecution until the assembling 
of the proposed council. The latter were not 
satisfied with the concessions granted, but in- 
sisted that similar privileges should be accorded 
to any others who might in the future join their 
ranks. It was only by the most strenuous efforts 
of Luther that they were finally induced to accept 
the terms thus offered. The " Religious Peace 
of Nuremberg," which w T as then guaranteed, 
while but a temporary arrangement, was a great 
triumph for the cause of the Reformation. It 
gave official recognition and political standing to 
the followers of the lonely monk who had eleven 
years before been proclaimed an accursed outlaw. 
Yet it came unsought, and was possible at last only 
because that same monk exerted all his influence 
to hold the princes firm in their allegiance to the 
Emperor w r ho had condemned him. The papal 
representatives wept in mortification to see all 
their plans of persecution thus thwarted, but 
Luther gratefully exclaimed: " God has merci- 
fully answered our poor prayers. ' ' 

The Elector John the Steadfast, through 
whose unfaltering zeal the renewed Church had 
been so firmly established upon Saxon territory, 
died in the faith, August 16th, 1532, his life's 
w T ork being well rounded out in the achievement 
of the long-desired religious peace. Luther w r ept 
like a child as he delivered the funeral address, 



WAB CLOUDS STAYED. 175 

in which he attested in glowing terms the Chris- 
tian character and the faithful friendship of the 
departed prince. The son, John Frederick, 
who succeeded his honored father, had been from 
childhood an ardent admirer of the great Re- 
former and continued to maintain relations of 
the greatest intimacy with him, combined with 
almost reverent regard. However storms might 
t without, in his own home-land Luther was 
now, and to the end of his days, assured of a sym- 
pathy as cordial as ever existed between a gener- 
ous prince and his most honored subject. 



CHAPTER XX. 

HARMONY AMONG BRETHREN. 

With the year 1532 began for Luther a period 
of comparative immunity from distracting con- 
flicts. He was now enabled to devote himself 
anew to congenial literary labors. In 1534 he 
finished his translation of the Bible, including 
the Apocrypha, and published the first complete 
edition. In the following year appeared the 
richest product of his academic lectures, his large 
Commentary upon Galatians, in which he 
develops with all the ardor of his earlier days 
the supreme importance of simple faith, and de- 
picts in glowing terms the atoning work of Christ. 
He found great delight also in prosecuting his 
lectures upon Genesis, preached frequently in 
his own house and in the church, and conducted 
a wide and constantly growing correspondence. 

To the broadening influence of these devotional 
labors is doubtless to be in large measure attri- 
buted the remarkable mildness now displayed 
by the Reformer toward those who differed with 
him upon important points. Nor was this merely 
a passing mood. During the years now before 
us, the desire that all earnest friends of the 
Gospel might be united in bonds of mutual 
confidence finds frequent expression in his cor- 
respondence. To attain this, he declares that he 
would gladly lay down his life. Not for the sake 
of political advantage does he desire it, but for 
the honor of Christ's name and the spiritual ad- 
vancement of His kingdom among men. While 

( 176 ) 



HARMONY AMONG BRETHREN. 177 

not abating a tittle of his own views, he met 
with candid cordiality the efforts of Bueer and 
others to secure harmony among all who pro- 
fessed with him the cardinal doctrine of salvation 
through faith alone. 

A colloquy of theologians, held at Cassel under 
the leadership of Melanchthon and Bucer, pre- 
pared the way for a fuller conference, which was 
called by the authority of the Elector John Fred- 
erick and Philip of Hesse, to meet at Eisenach in 
May, 1536. As Luther was unable to leave his 
home at the appointed time, the theologians as- 
sembled at Wittenberg The timorous Melanch- 
thon, who dreaded a fresh outbreak of the earlier 
strife, having used every effort to delay the 
assembling of the conference, failed to appear at 
its opening session. It soon became apparent 
that a great advance had been made by the min- 
isters of Southern Germany in the direction of 
Luther's views. After a free expression of senti- 
ment upon the doctrine of the Lord's Supper and 
a private consultation of the Wittenberg theo- 
logians in an adjoining apartment, Luther, with 
beaming countenance, announced that he and his 
associates were prepared to extend the hand of 
fraternal recognition to all the assembled 
brethren and those whom they represented. The 
declaration was received with tears of joy, with 
folded hands, and reverent ejaculations of thanks- 
giving to God. 

On the following day, no difficulty was experi- 
enced in attaining harmonious conclusions in the 
statement of other leading doctrines upon which 
opinions had. differed. The next day, being the 
festival of the Ascension, Luther preached with 
more than his usual power from the great com- 
mission of the departing Lord to His Church: 
12 



178 LUTHER, THE REFORMER. 

" Go ye into all the world and preach the Gospel 
to every creature." It was, further, brought to 
light that even in Switzerland the extreme views 
of Zwingli had been abandoned by many, and 
all agreed to deal kindly and patiently with any 
who might still cling to the teaching of their 
former leader. 

The celebration of the holy communion with 
the Wittenberg congregation on the Lord's day 
was a public confirmation of the happy con- 
clusion of the deliberations. The use of candles 
and clerical robes in the services awakened some 
anxiety among the delegates from remoter sec- 
tions, but their fears were allayed when they were 
assured that but little importance was attached 
to these ancient forms and that they were often 
designedly omitted. 

On Monday morning a formula drawn by the 
hand of Melanchthon was signed by all the par- 
ticipants. It was understood, indeed, that the 
little company there present could speak only for 
themselves, and that their conclusions would be 
binding upon others only when formally accepted. 
But the " Wittenberg Concord," with its cor- 
dial endorsement of pulpit and altar fellowship, 
effected a practical union of the evangelical 
churches of Germany, which was maintained 
until the outbreak of new controversies after the 
death of Luther. 

The movement thus happily consummated 
must be credited, in its inception, to the zeal of 
the practical Philip of Hesse and the mediation 
of the indefatigable Bucer. Their planning would 
have been futile, however, had it not been for the 
remarkable persistency of Luther in advocacy 
of the conference and his readiness to tolerate the 
utmost divergencies of statement which did not 



HARMONY AMONG BRETHREN. 179 

for him necessarily involve a denial of funda- 
mental truth. It is a circumstance not to be 
overlooked, that the first effectual summons to 
harmony and toleration within the ranks of the 
reformed Church went forth from Wittenberg. 



CHAPTER XXI. 

PARLEYING WITH THE PAPISTS. 

The Peace of Nuremberg assured immunity 
from persecution only to those who were already 
attached to the cause of the Reformation. As if 
in mockery of this feeble attempt to check the 
rising tide, the following years were marked by 
almost constant defections from the ranks of 
the Romanists. Philip of Hesse found occasion 
to snatch Wiirtemberg from the control of the 
Hapsburgs, and at once re-organized its churches 
upon evangelical principles. One after another, 
the important cities along the Rhine, including 
Augsburg, and whole sections of Northern Ger- 
many threw off the yoke. The Smalcald League 
had become a power to be respected. Even the 
Emperor and the Pope began to realize that it 
would be impossible to crush this vigorous move- 
ment by force of arms. Events in the political 
horizon were constantly reminding the former 
that he might at any moment sorely need the 
support of a united Germany. 

Within the same period there had arisen an 
influential party within the Roman Catholic 
church which sincerely desired a reform of fla- 
grant abuses, and was willing, to this end, to 
welcome even the Protestants to a general coun- 
cil, in the hope that by due concessions they 
might yet be induced to acknowledge in some 
sense the authority of the Pope. Upon the death 
of Clement VII. in 1534, his successor, Paul III., 
promised to summon a council to meet at Mantua 
(180) 



PARLEYING WITH THE PAPISTS. 181 

and dispatched a diplomatic messenger to Ger- 
many to awaken an interest in the project, or at 
least prevent the threatened calling of an inde- 
pendent council of the German churches. The 
legate, Vergerius by name, exceeded his in- 
structions when, led by curiosity, he visited 
Wittenberg and invited Luther and his friend 
Bugenhagen to breakfast with him. The Re- 
former, appreciating the humor of the situation, 
had himself smoothly shaven that he might ap- 
pear young and vigorous, put on his best clothes, 
with a golden chain about his neck, and, to use 
his own expression, ' ' played the genuine Luther ' ' 
to the dismay of the disconcerted dignitary, treat- 
ing him with scant courtesy and shocking his 
sense of propriety by the boldest self-assertion. 
The legate left in indignation, in his report of the 
interview denounced Luther as a "beast.'' but 
thirteen years later renounced a lucrative position 
and publicly adopted the principles of his un- 
manageable guest. 

The Pope having proclaimed May 23d, 1537, as 
the date for a general council, the Elector re- 
quested Luther to prepare a statement of the 
doctrines which he would maintain at all hazards 
before a council or when brought face to face with 
death and the throne of judgment, and to present 
the same to his foremost associates for their en- 
dorsement under the same solemn sanctions. The 
result was the document known to history as the 
Smalcald Articles. It presents the doctrines of 
the Augsburg Confession in Luther's own vigor- 
ous style, with an additional pungent article 
upon the papacy. It was carried by the Elector 
to a convention of the Protestant allies held at 
Smalcald in February, 1537, but there was no 
occasion for its presentation, as the heroic princes 



182 LUTHER, THE REFORMER. 

at once declared that they would have nothing to 
do with a council pledged in advance to the con- 
demnation of the truth and so constituted as to 
be subservient to the will of the Pope. The 
significance of this Smalcald Convention lies 
chiefly in the fact that it presented the first direct 
and open defiance of the papal authority upon 
the part of the Protestant Estates. 

Luther, who with Melanchthon and Bugenhagen 
had accompanied the Elector, was taken seriously 
sick soon after his arrival at Smalcald, and it was 
thought for a time that the attack would certainly 
prove fatal. He longed to die upon Saxon soil, 
and with many misgivings the homeward journey 
was undertaken. The members of the conven- 
tion gathered about as he was placed in his car- 
riage, when, sitting up, he made the traditional 
sign of the cross above the throng, saying : " The 
Lord fill you with His blessing, and with hatred 
of the Pope." 

The apparent disposition upon the part of the 
Papists to compromise aroused all the old fire of 
the Reformer. He published in rapid succession 
a series of pamphlets in vigorous polemic tone, 
followed in 1539 by a large work entitled, " Of 
Councils and Churches," in which he utterly 
shattered the claim of infallibility made in behalf 
of the papal councils, and marked out in broad 
lines the characteristics of the true Christian 
Church. 

While Luther continued thus to storm the 
tottering fortifications of the papacy, the hand of 
Providence was working wondrous transformations 
in the political aspect of the nation. Duke 
George, of Ducal Saxony, the bitterest personal 
enemy of Luther and his cause, died suddenly 
soon after, following his two sons to the grave, and 



PARLEYING WITH THE PAPISTS. 183 

his brother Henry at once granted to the people 
of the realm the Gospel privileges long denied 
them, and now eagerly welcomed. Branden- 
burg, Mecklenberg and distant Denmark had 
also become Protestant territory. 

At a convention of the Smalcald League held 
at Frankfort in April. 1539, a delegate from the 
Emperor gave the assurance that no active meas- 
ures would be taken against the Protestants for 
the next eighteen months, and that the German 
Estates should be permitted, at a convention called 
for the purpose, to name a committee who should 
endeavor, in conjunction with a commission ap- 
pointed by the Emperor, to formulate a basis of 
union between the opposing parties in Germany. 
This was a large concession. It made provision 
practically for what the Reformers had long de- 
sired — a council of the German Church, with 
no reference to the authority of the Pope. The 
latter was furious, but the Emperor was in posi- 
tion, at that particular juncture, to profit by the 
alarm of His Holiness, and hence continued to 
encourage the hopes of the Protestants. 

After a series of preliminary meetings, includ- 
ing a four-days' colloquy at Worms between Mel- 
anchthon aad the old arch-enemy of Luther, 
John Eck, the Emperor at length decided that the 
religious questions should be freely considered at 
a regular Diet of the Empire, to be held at Ratis- 
bon in the spring of 1541. He himself appointed 
a commission of three representative men from 
each party, Eck, Klug and Grupper on the one 
side, and upon the other Melanchthon, Bucer and 
Pistorius. The selection indicated a real desire 
upon the part of the Emperor to effect a reconcili- 
ation of the opposing parties, and the attempt 
was made under the most favorable circum- 



184 LUTHER, THE REFORMER. 

stances. It is of special interest for us to note that 
Luther, who was at this time so tolerant toward 
variant factions in the Evangelical party, had no 
faith whatever in any favorable result from these 
negotiations with the Papists. While advising his 
friends to meet the advances of the Emperor in a 
kindly spirit, and always welcoming opportunities 
to discuss the points at issue, he calmly w T arned 
his hopeful associates that these schemes would 
not succeed unless a reconciliation could first be 
brought about between Christ and Belial. 

The work of the commission at first proceeded 
with astounding rapidity. Formulas were 
adopted upon the subjects of the original state 
of man, free will, the origin of evil, and original 
sin. Upon the vital question of justification by 
faith, the Romish theologians yielded the tra- 
ditional doctrine of their church, and agreed to a 
statement which might be understood in a strictly 
evangelical sense, though leaving some room for an 
undue exaltation of man's own works of love. 

At this stage of the work, its results were sub- 
mitted to the Elector John Frederick. His 
attention was at once fixed upon the cumbrous 
article upon justification by faith. Too many 
words! — said the honest, straightforward man — 
and the force of its positive statements neutralized 
by the ' ' but ' ' in the last clause. He sent it post- 
haste to Luther, who fully endorsed the judgment 
of his prince. No patchwork for them! Still, the 
Reformer, waited upon by a special committee 
.sent from Ratisbon, responded in terms so court- 
eous that they were almost mistaken for approval, 
and advised his own friends to interpose no ob- 
stacle to the work of the commission. Let them 
go on. The Papists will surrender everything 
that concerns merely the salvation of souls, but 



PARLEYING WITH THE PAPISTS. 185 

they will grow stubborn when it comes to the dis- 
cussion of the papal authority and the idolatrous 
masses. The prophecy was fully justified. The 
further colloquy served only to bring out into 
the clearer light the irreconcilable differences 
between the contending parties. The Emperor 
desired that the articles upon which harmony 
had been attained should be adopted by the Diet ; 
but the papal party declared that the doctrines 
upon which no approach to agreement could be 
made were the most important, and the Pope 
sent messages denouncing the concessions already 
made. The whole attempt was finally abandoned, 
and the Diet simply confirmed for an indefinite 
period the religious peace granted at Nuremberg. 

The result of these tedious negotiations was 
doubtless, upon the whole, favorable to the cause 
of the Reformation. They proved that it was 
not personal feeling nor mere stubbornness that 
actuated the Reformers, but their devotion to a 
great principle, a principle now more clearly 
than ever seen to be totally irreconcilable with 
the hierarchical system of Rome. They sug- 
gested further, only too plainly, that were it not 
for her lust of power, Rome herself, as repre- 
sented by her foremost theologians, would be 
almost prepared to acknowledge that, in the great 
doctrinal battle of a quarter of a century, Luther 
had already gained the victory. 

It remained only for the Pope to rally his 
forces, and in a council of his own (opened at 
Trent, December loth, 1545) to repair if possible 
the breaches made in the doctrinal defences of 
his own party- and set up a new standard with 
which to meet the victorious hosts that now 
marched with the enthusiasm of deep conviction 
beneath the banners of the Augsburg Confession. 



CHAPTER XXII. 



STANDARD OF MORALITY. 



The critics of Luther were not slow to charge 
upon his doctrine of justification by faith a ten- 
dency to undermine the foundations of moral- 
ity. His unsparing assaults upon the boasted 
good works of the Papists seemed to give coun- 
tenance to the charge of comparative indifference 
to the outward deportment. 

In meeting this objection of his adversaries, 
Luther found himself in the very worthy com- 
panionship of the Apostle Paul, and was as 
little disturbed by it as was the latter. Both 
alike rejected the idea of basing salvation upon 
any work of man. Both gave all the glory to the 
unmerited grace of God extended to all who sin- 
cerely depend upon the all-sufficient sacrifice of 
Christ. Only wilful blindness could fail to see 
that such faith as they advocated must bring 
forth good works as surely as a good tree will 
bear good fruit. 

The assertion of one of Luther's former asso- 
ciates, Agricola, that good works are not necessary 
at all, giving rise to the annoying Antinomian 
Controversy, was refuted by Luther to the sat- 
isfaction of all but its author ; and the history of 
the Protestant Church is a standing witness to the 
truth, that the faith that justifies is a faith that 
abounds also in the work of the Lord. 

The personal life of Luther himself was above 
reproach. He was abstemious in his diet, habit- 
uallv so absorbed in his work as to have little re- 
(186) 



STANDARD OF MORALITY. 187 

gard for the pleasures of the palate. Of dissipa- 
tion he would, even as a student, know nothing. 
Purity of thought and strong control of all carnal 
passions marked his entire career, and lifted him 
above the aspersions of his bitterest foes in an age 
when flagrant lapses from the path of social recti- 
tude were accounted venial offences. 

He was, however, no ascetic. He was con- 
stantly assailing the prevalent error of the day, 
which mistook a proud austerity for virtue, and 
kept the consciences of men in bondage by the 
minute requirements of the code of monastic self- 
mortification. He claimed for himself and others 
the right to enjoy the good things of life, and 
sometimes shocked the sensibilities of those who 
yet clung to the gloomy ideals of the past by the 
boldness of his language in defence of personal 
liberty. If we ourselves are startled by the refer- 
ences of his biographers to the gifts of beer and 
wine that were gratefully accepted, we must re- 
member that the idea of total abstinence from 
intoxicants for the sake of the weak brother was 
foreign to that age, and that Luther himself was 
most guarded in the use of alcoholic stimulants- 
was, in fact, regarded as a model in this respect. 

With a clear conscience, therefore, he could lift 
up his voice in earnest warning to his countrymen 
against the ravages of the " drink devil," who 
notoriously held the poor Germans in such abject 
bondage to his dominion. At the time of his 
death, he had in contemplation the preparation of 
a special treatise upon the subject. 

His terrible arraignment of the monastic sys- 
tem as a nursery of vice is too well known to 
require more than passing mention. Already in 
1520. in his Address to the Nobility, he demands 
action by those in authority for the suppression of 



188 LUTHER, THft REFORMER. 

licentiousness ; and one of the first fruits of the 
Reformation in the territory of Saxony was the 
closing of disreputable places of resort. 

In later years, when princes were his friends, 
his regard for them could not restrain him from 
scathing denunciation of the loose morality of 
courts. The growing luxury of the commercial 
cities, and the reckless expenditures of even the 
poor peasants, drew from him indignant protests. 
The frivolity of the rising generation, the tendency 
to immodesty in dress or in deportment, the 
keeping of late hours and the frequenting of 
public houses, were all frequent subjects of un- 
sparing condemnation from the pulpit. 

The duty of filial obedience, learned in his 
early home and strictly enforced in his own 
household, he maintained with unflinching 
fidelity. The duty of a child to its parents he 
placed far above any claim which the Church or 
society might have upon it. One of the most ser- 
ious charges which he brought against the papal 
church was that it claimed the right, like the 
Pharisees of old, to make this commandment of 
God of none effect by its traditions. He regarded 
his own monastic vow on this account an impious 
one, and sought to make some slight amends for 
his early filial impiety by displaying the most 
scrupulous regard for his father's wishes through- 
out the remainder of his life. 

The custom of secret espousals, recognized 
by the jurists of the day upon the basis of the old 
canonical laws, aroused his indignation. Mere 
children were thus permitted to enter into the 
most solemn compact of life without the knowl- 
edge of their parents. Luther fiercely assailed 
the practice, and from the pulpit boldly censured 
the jurists and the civil authorities for encourag- 



STANDARD OF MORALITY. 189 

ing such violations of the Fourth Commandment. 
The latter retorted angrily, but finally were com- 
pelled to succumb before the tremendous moral 
energy of the faithful pastor, and the abuse was 
abolished. 

We have seen how Luther, by teaching and 
example, honored the institution of marriage. 
It should not surprise us to find his conception 
of this sacred relation somewhat limited by the 
earlier distorted ideas in regard to the normal 
relation of the sexes. The conjugal bond was 
regarded too exclusively in its lower, carnal as- 
pects, or as a matter of social economy, and the 
spiritual relationship upon which it should be 
based, and which gives to it its highest sanctity, 
had not yet come to due recognition. This de- 
ficiency, so natural in a carnal age and among 
men trained under the false system of monastic- 
ism, became painfully manifest in the assent of 
the Reformers to the bigamous marriage of 
Philip of Hesse. The latter, having found the 
companion of his youth uncongenial, proposed, 
with her consent, to wed another, and inquired 
of Luther and his associates whether the Gospel 
forbids polygamy. They replied that such a 
practice is contrary to the general divine order 
and sure to work incalculable injury; but they 
could find no express scriptural prohibition. 
They inferred from its permission in the lives of 
the early patriarchs that it might be allowable in 
exceptional cases. Philip naturally inferred that 
his own case fell under the latter category, and 
the ceremony was performed in the presence of 
Melanchthon. It must be acknowledged that, in 
this single instance, the judgment of the Re- 
formers was inferior to that of the princes and 
simple laity and to the position of the Roman 



190 LUTHER, THE REFORMER. 

Catholic church. They fell into the error by 
failing to note the imperfection in the moral en- 
lightenment of God's people in the early ages and 
through their own imperfect conception of the 
high moral unity involved in the marriage rela- 
tionship. The unfortunate affair brought per- 
plexity and shame upon all connected with it, 
and, as Philip was the leader of the Smalcald 
League, it cast discredit upon the entire cause of 
the Protestants. Melanchthon' s distress on ac- 
count of it very nearly cost him his life. Luther 
afterwards saw his error, but found consolation in 
the fact that he had acted conscientiously. 

In estimating the zeal of the Reformer for prac- 
tical morality, we must remember that it was 
not his chief providential mission to rebuke 
the open vices of his day, but rather to uncover 
the hidden wickedness that lurked beneath the 
boasted superior holiness of the professed teachers 
of morality and religion. It was only when this, 
his peculiar work, had been almost accomplished, 
and his energies concentrated more and more upon 
his own more immediate surroundings, that he 
came into really close contact with the vices of the 
rude multitude. His castigations of these offenses 
among his own people was then fully as unsparing 
as had been his denunciation of his bitterest 
enemies. Nor was his vehemence in vain. The 
authorities of the city and University adopted 
more stringent measures for the restraint of dissi- 
pation. Thus, through all the years of conflict 
with iniquity, whether found lurking in the dark 
or parading in the light of day, this Man of Faith 
was continually by his intense moral earnestness 
overthrowing the works of the devil. 



CHAPTER XXIII. 



HOME LIFE. 



No portraiture of Luther can be complete which 
does not bring distinctly into view the husband 
and father, finding daily refreshment in the circle 
of loved ones in his humble but always hospitable 
home. The monastery in which his active career 
had been begun remained his place of residence, 
and became his personal property by gift of the 
Elector John shortly before the latter' s death. 
Its construction according to the original plan had 
never been completed, and extensive repairs were 
frequently necessary. Yet it was commodious, and 
connected with it was an excellent garden. To 
its bare walls we have seen Luther lead his brave- 
hearted Katie, but, by the blessing of God, the 
dark spectre of want was ere long banished. The 
annual salary from the electoral treasury was from 
time to time increased, and gifts from various 
sources added to the equipment of the home. 
Additional land was bought immediately adjoin- 
ing and in the neighboring village of Zulsdorf. 
Luther himself estimated the value of his estate 
shortly before his death at about 10,000 florins, 
his income from other sources being at the time 
400 florins. He might, as his wife was accus- 
tomed to lament, have been quite rich had he 
been like other men; but he always refused to 
accept any money for his books, although others 
made fortunes by the sale of them. His free- 
handed generosity was known far and wide, and 
not seldom abused. Judged by ordinary stand- 
(191) 



192 LUTHER, THE REFORMER. 

ards, his donations to the needy were far beyond 
his ability. To the protests of his frugal wife he 
was accustomed to reply : ' ' We have a rich 
Father." 

To his own household he welcomed an aunt 
of his wife, several children of a deceased sister 
named Kauffman, at one time four orphans whose 
parents had died during a siege of pestilence, 
tutors of his growing children, students at the 
University, and the fugitive wife of the Elector of 
Brandenburg. His friends often made long visits, 
passing strangers were always cordially welcomed, 
escaped monks and nuns found a comfortable 
refuge until homes or employment could be 
secured for them, and there were frequent celebra- 
tions of family birthdays and similar occasions of 
festivity. 

The burden of all this hospitality fell upon the 
faithful Katie, whose tireless energy and wise 
economy alone could save the household from 
bankruptcy. She found especial delight in her 
u kingdom," as Luther playfully called it, at 
Zulsdorf, with its cattle, poultry and crops ; while 
Luther himself was content to amuse himself in 
the monastery garden, grafting the trees and 
watching the birds. They both enjoyed fishing 
in a little pond near the monastery. He himself 
bore loving testimony to her fidelity in minister- 
ing to all his wants, and his cordial letters, written 
to her whenever duty called him from his home, 
give abundant evidence at once of his genuine re- 
spect for her character and his sincere affection. 

Six children were borne to them, of whom 
Elizabeth died in infancy and Magdalena at the age 
of thirteen. The father was in each case heart- 
broken. The scene at the death-bed of Mag- 
dalena was deeply touching. Bending tenderly 



HOME LIFE. 193 

over her couch, the man before whom princes 
quailed himself trembled like a leaf. ''Lena, 
dear," he said, "you would like to stay with 
your father here, and yet you will gladly go to 
your Father in heaven." " Yes, dearest father," 
she replied, "just as God wills." With stream- 
ing tears he then prayed for her release from pain 
and weakness, and. as she breathed her last, 
turned to comfort the weeping family. " I have 
given heaven a saint," he exclaimed. "0 3 that 
we might die thus ! Such a death I should wel- 
come this very hour."' Xo other event in his 
life so deeply moved him. He sought to allay 
his grief by reflecting upon her happy state, but 
there were times when his tears could be stayed 
only by his swelling indignation at the ravages of 
death, and of him that hath the power of death, 
the devil. Thus even sorrow could but stimulate 
to more earnest warfare against the prince of evil. 

The daily intercourse of the Reformer with 
his children was unrestrained and cordial. He 
delighted in watching their innocent pranks, 
romped with them, told them wonderful tales 
embellished by the rich hues of his ever-vivid im- 
agination, and in every way sought to make their 
early years as bright as his own had been stern 
and cheerless. He taught them faithfully from 
the Bible and the catechism, and encouraged them 
in the cultivation of whatever musical talent they 
possessed, his own lute and clear tenor voice 
always leading in the family chorus. 

The influence of the peaceful evening hours 
thus spent in maintaining the joyous, hopeful 
spirit of the great witness for the truth, who 
found in the world without little but corruption 
and strife, can scarcely be overestimated. Luther 
as a lonelv monk would have been crushed with 
13" 



194 LUTHER, THE REFORMER. 

discouragement beneath the burdens which Luther 
as the happy head of a Christian home carried so 
lightly. Here he was kept in touch with what is 
purest and best in human life. Here his tender 
heart found sympathy and poured out in return 
more than it received. Here, as in a little world, 
he studied human nature and learned to speak 
words of comfort and cheer that echoed in many 
other homes when clouds of sorrow lowered. 

Here, too, was manifested most clearly the sin- 
cere, child-like piety of the man. Merrily and 
unreproved might pass the jest and song from lip 
to lip, but the Unseen Presence was never for- 
gotten in that home. The most trifling incidents 
were made to teach lessons of reverence and trust. 
The Scriptures were quoted naturally and aptly as 
illustrating all manner of passing themes. Every 
evening closed with prayer, and at nine o'clock, 
however popes and emperors might rage without, 
the sentiment of David found literal fulfilment in 
the experience of this royal servant of David's 
Lord: "I will both lay me down in peace and 
sleep; for thou, Lord, only makest me dwell in 
safety." 

The results of this home training, as seen in 
the lives of Luther's children, were not disappoint- 
ing. None of them was endowed with extraor- 
dinary talent. John became a lawyer, meeting 
with a fair measure of success in his calling. 
Martin studied for the ministry, but never assumed 
its active responsibilities, dying at the age • of 
thirty-three years. Paul became a physician of 
considerable note, filling positions of trust at sev- 
eral courts. Margaret was married to a Prussian 
nobleman, Von Kunheim. They all bore excel- 
lent reputations, and lived as worthy members of 
the Church, enjoying and not abusing the liberty 



HOME LIFE. 195 

of conscience won for them, as for many millions, 
by the dauntless courage of their revered father. 

Nor should we fail to thank God for the exam- 
ple of that Christian home. It was a city set 
upon a hill, whose light ^shone far and wide, dis- 
pelling clouds of error which had darkened the 
nations for centuries. It did more perhaps than 
even Luther's ponderous words to crush out the 
' i doctrine of devils ' ' which dared to cast dis- 
honor upon that state which God had distinctly 
pronounced holy. It encouraged thousands of 
priests to establish family altars, and emancipated 
multitudes from the stifling moral atmosphere of 
convents. It gave back to the Church, instead of 
the prying priest, the sympathizing friend and 
pastor. Lofty indeed was the vocation of the 
man, who not only pointed the way to a heavenly 
home, but whose influence was destined to dot the 
sinful earth with domestic temples resounding 
through the ages with carols of peace and anthems 
of praise. 



CHAPTER XXIV. 



SICKNESS AND DEATH. 



The Herculean tasks accomplished by Luther 
under manifold distractions and under burdens of 
responsibility such as had rested upon no other 
champion of the truth since the days of the 
apostles, imply the possession of a bodily constitu- 
tion naturally vigorous. He could scarcely, 
however, have been pronounced at any stage of 
his career a healthy man. The excessive rigor of 
his monastic days had told upon him. His 
pale face and haggard frame were a subject 
of comment when he stood before the Diet at 
Worms. The seasons of deep spiritual struggle 
through which he passed at intervals had probably 
some connection with incipient physical disorder. 
We recall the helpless condition which so often 
interrupted his labors at Coburg in 1530. From 
that date onward his bodily ailments increased, 
and he was compelled to condition all his engage- 
ments for travel or literary labors upon the state 
of his health. Again and again, at important 
junctures — while in the pulpit, upon his journeys, 
or engaged in negotiations with representatives 
from distant churches — he was suddenly overcome 
with intense pain or dizziness. Several times he 
appeared to be at the point of death, and bade 
solemn farewell to his family and associates. Dur- 
ing the last twenty years of his life the shadows 
of the approaching end were seldom lifted. To 
his friends he habitually spoke of himself as an 
old and worn-out man, and often sighed for de- 
liverance from an evil world. 
(196) 



SICKNESS AND DEATH. 197 

Yet of this no trace is to be found in the char- 
acter of his polemical or devotional writings. 
When he grasped his pen for practical work, he 
was ever the same Luther still. His hand was 
steady, and his great soul poured itself out in 
clear analysis, in terrible invective, or in the joy- 
ous utterances of a triumphant faith. His body 
was but a feeble instrument, quite forgotten when 
the glowing spirit rose to deal with the great 
themes of salvation and eternal life. His latest 
writings are in every respect as vigorous as any 
which preceded them. 

The clear conviction that the hour of his de- 
parture was rapidly approaching had, however, a 
marked influence upon his disposition toward 
those whose views differed in some respects 
from his own, but who yet accepted the funda- 
mental doctrines of human helplessness and divine 
grace. With the Roman Catholic Church he had 
no longer the faintest desire of reconcilation. He 
recognized more clearly than any other in that age 
the impassable chasm that separated him from 
the papal fold. It was not only the glaring 
abuses of that Church against which he protested, 
but the entire conception upon which it was based 
he regarded as the product of impious deception 
and human pride. In his dying hours he begged 
his friends to pray the Lord to protect His Church 
against the mad assaults of the Pope and his 
counselors then assembled in the Council at 
Trent. But, from the time when the truth had 
been so boldly confessed at Augsburg and com- 
promise with extreme error rejected at Marburg, 
the desire for harmony with all who held the 
essential truths of the Gospel grew constantly 
stronger, until it became the passion of his soul. 
He longed to see the emancipated hosts of 



198 LUTHER, THE REFORMER. 

Christ's true followers bound in loving fellowship 
before his eyes should close in death. This in- 
ward yearning in the mighty soul in which the 
Reformation itself had its birth found concrete 
expression in the "Wittenberg Concord," which 
remains for all time a monumental witness to the 
broad spirit of brotherly love which lay beneath 
the often stern exterior of the great Reformer. 

In the closing years of his life, however, the 
old spirit of distrust was re-awakened. Inci- 
dental references in his writings of the years 
1539-41 to the theory of Zwingli, whose views he 
regarded as abandoned by all but a few of the 
latter' s immediate followers, aroused angry pro- 
tests in Switzerland. The discussion which fol- 
lowed developed the fact that some German theo- 
logians still inclined more to the views of Zwingli 
than to his own. It was whispered that some of 
his intimate associates, notably Melanchthon, 
were no longer sound upon the doctrine of the 
Lord's Supper. When the custom of elevating 
the host was quietly discontinued in the Witten- 
burg church, the report was circulated that even 
Luther himself had abandoned the doctrine of 
the bodily presence of Christ in the sacrament. 
This was too much for the brave, bold man. 
His charity was being misinterpreted. The peace 
which he had advocated seemed, after all, to 
be based upon hypocrisy. His own testimony 
was being beclouded. He shuddered to think 
that death might overtake him while apparently 
blindly loitering in the camp of the enemy. It 
must not be. With terrific energy he hurled 
new thunderbolts to right and left, regardless of 
resulting alienations. He rejected all overtures of 
peace, and rejoiced the more, the more bitterly he 
was denounced by the "Sacramentarians." He 



SICKNESS AND DEATH. 199 

wanted all the world to know that these rationalistic 
interpreters were his foes, and to this end sought to 
arouse their animosity to the highest pitch by 
stating his own positions in the boldest and most 
offensive terms possible. The longing to depart in 
peace was now supplanted by the passionate de- 
termination to die in armor, waving his gleam- 
ing sword in defence of the whole truth as God 
had given him to see it. How largely this change 
of attitude was justified by the real situation is a 
point upon which historians have differed; but it 
would certainly be an occasion for lament if the 
tone, of these late passionate utterances were to be 
adopted as the normal tone of theological discus- 
sion in times of peace. It is sufficient for us to 
see in them the Reformer's dying plea for sincer- 
ity and openness in the expression of religious 
convictions. 

The closing scene of this dramatic life is hap- 
pily one of reconciliation. Serious alienations had 
for some time prevailed in the mutual relations of 
the Counts of Mansfeld, Luther's early home-land. 
It was finally agreed to submit the matters in dis- 
pute to his decision. Despite his weakness, the 
extreme cold, and the protests of his friends, he 
gladly undertook the mission, leaving his home 
with his three sons and other members of his 
household January 23d, 1546. Floods in the 
Saale — a great Anabaptist, Luther called it — de- 
layed them for some clays in Halle, where he 
preached a vigorous sermon against papal 
abuses. A violent attack of sickness upon the 
journey he attributed to the devil, who, he de- 
clared, always assailed him when he had any 
great work on hand. At Eisleben, where the 
negotiations were conducted, he preached four 
sermons, the last on February 15th, and also or- 



200 LUTHER, THE REFORMER. 

dained two young men to the Gospel ministry. 
Twice he partook of the Lord's Supper. He 
maintained an almost continuous correspondence 
in his most genial style with his w r ife and his 
bosom-friend Melanchthon, and enlivened the ser- 
ious labors of his errand by frequent sallies of his 
unfailing humor. He found an intensely embit- 
tered feeling between the parties at strife, which 
had been greatly aggravated by the intervention 
of others. Prayerful earnestness and patience 
upon his part, and the boundless regard of all for 
his character and counsel, at length effected a com- 
plete reconciliation. 

Luther, feeling indisposed, was excused from 
attendance at the final meeting on the 17th, in 
which the details of the agreement were arranged 
in legal form, and remained in his room during 
the morning. He was present at the evening 
meal, leading the conversation as usual, inter- 
mingling serious themes with sallies of playful 
humor. At eight o'clock he withdrew to his 
room, and spent some time standing before the 
window engaged in audible prayer. He then re- 
joined the company, and spent an hour with them 
in pleasant sociability. During the night his con- 
dition became serious, and friends and neighbors 
were called to his side. His last connected 
words were: " Father, into thy hands I com- 
mend my spirit. Thou hast redeemed me, Thou 
faithful God." As his bodily senses were rapidly 
failing, one of the company called loudly to him: 
' ' Reverend Father, do you still hold firmly to 
Christ and the doctrine which you have preached?' ' 
to which he replied distinctly: "Yes," — then 
turned upon his side and peacefully expired. 

As the tearful funeral procession moved out 
of the village, the reconciled Counts of Mansfeld 



SICKNESS AND DEATH. 



201 



rode in advance, a public testimony that the last 
triumph of the Hero of the Reformation was a 
triumph of peace. Dying in the place of his birth, 
his remains were fitly borne to the scene of his 
labors and solemnly interred within the walls of 
the Castle-church, upon whose doors he had nailed 
his great proclamation of the Church's emancipa- 
tion. His toil was ended, but his life's work was 
but begun. The principles which he proclaimed 
have directed the course of modern progress, and 
so long as the world loves liberty, or the Church 
rejoices in the doctrine of free grace, can neither 
fail to cherish the memory of Luther, the Reformer. 



End. 



JUL IS 1898 



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LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 




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